Ice Age: The Odd One Out
by Hydra42
Summary: Adrian has lived most of her life with a family of beavers. Which means she swims excessively, is not very graceful, and eats no meat whatsoever. She's also, in Diego's case, extremely pretty. Diego/Adrian
1. Prologue

Moonlight shone over the forest grounds, and there was no sound except for the waterfall, flowing freely down the rocks. Two sabers, a male and female, crossed stealthily between the oak trees. The male had dark, ruthless eyes that were heavily lidded, his mate was thinner and more timid-looking.

"Oof-OW!"

The cry of the couple's she-cub was easily heard as she tripped over a stray root. The male growled.

"Adrian!" he hissed at the cub. "Need I remind you…_again_…that we are supposed to stalk prey _quietly_?"

"It wasn't my fault, Father." the clumsy cub objected. "I couldn't see, and-"

"Your foolish behavior might have cost us our dinner, and left us all to starve!" he yowled. "Perhaps this is the reason I never took you hunting with us before now!" He raised his paw to strike her.

"Johan…please…" the female whispered. "Not here." He lowered it, and said "All right, Lydia. But if she trips up again…"

"She won't." Lydia reassured.

He sighed. "Adrian, do nothing except what I say. Is that clear?" Still a little scared, the cub squeaked out "Y-yes, Father."

* * *

The family continued on for several more miles. The cub was limping, falling behind her mother.

"What is it, dear?" Lydia whispered, trying not to get her mate's attention.

"My leg hurts from the fall back there." Adrian groaned. "I don't know if it's bleeding or not."

"Pain is something we sabers have to bear in order to survive." she lectured. "Keep going. If we're lucky, we won't have to walk farther."

Her daughter nodded. "Yes, Mother." She obeyed, and kept walking, gritting her teeth as she did so.

"That's my girl." her mother said proudly, nuzzling Adrian as she walked past. She was careful not to stride ahead of her father, though.

* * *

"Stop." Johan commanded, holding out a paw. "An antelope's close by here. Now, Adrian, learning how to hunt takes observation, so you just sit and watch. And don't do anything stupid."

"Yes, Father." she repeated, gazing ahead at the buck having a midnight graze. She wanted to make her father proud, for a first.

Johan bent low into the bushes, creeping closer towards the unwary victim. Finally, he pounced when he was close enough. The two fought it out, but Johan eventually won.

"Aah!" Adrian yelled in fright, turning away as her father began to skin the poor creature.

"Your father said to watch; don't look away!" her mother reprimanded.

"But it's so bloody!" she argued.

"Every saber has to hunt to survive. One day, you'll hunt like your father is right now."

With tears in her eyes, Adrian turned her head forward. How _could_ she make her father proud if _this_ was what she had to do?

* * *

They wandered on for several more miles after stopping to eat. Adrian had refused to eat a single bite of the carcass, but at her father's menecing glare she took a small bite of the meat, feeling repulsed.

"Ah, there's another. Here's your chance, Adrian. Now do you remember the rules of hunting?" her father asked.

"Bend, stalk, pounce, chase (optional), maim." Adrian recited uncomfortably. She peered out by the lake, where her victim was.

"But Father...it's a child." she pointed out.

"Exactly. It'll be easy for you to hunt the weakest and most defensless before moving on to bigger prey." he growled. "Now go! And remember to aim for the neck!"

Adrian gulped, and bent low into the grass, crawling slowly towards the young beaver playing by the rocks in the waterfall. She was close to it, and ready to leap, when one of her claws caught in a twig. She tried to pull it free. "Ummph!" she grumbled, forgetting her efforts on being quiet. Her father was far away, anyhow, he couldn't see her. As long as she caught th beaver.

"Ooh, you got your foot stuck real bad, huh?"

Startled, Adrian backed away from the voice, which to her surprise, came from the very beaver she was hunting.

"No worries, I can get it out of there. Just hold still." The beaver began chewing away at the bark of the twig, until she had gotten Adrian's claw free.

"Thanks." she said, relieved. She moved forward, unaware her counterpart had been unable to see her before now.

"Aah! You're one of them! Those sabers!" It was the beaver girl backing away now. "Shoo! Shoo! You're not eating me!"

"No, wait! I'm not going to eat you!" Adrian reassured. This beaver was nice, she had helped her. Besides, she was only a kid.

"Like I'm gonna believe that." the beaver scoffed. "You sabers eat everyone here."

"Well, I don't know how to hunt, anyway. I mean, I do, but this is my first time. I mean, it isn't..." she stuttered. "Point is, I'm not going to eat you. You helped me out."

"Adrian!" yelled Johan from farther away. "Go! Attack! Now!"

"See? I knew you were lying!" The beaver scurried off as fast as her little legs could carry her.

"No! Please, don't go!" Adrian ran after her, cornering her behind one of the rocks. "Listen! My dad wants me to kill you, but I'm not going to! I won't kill anything!" She still could hardly believe the words were coming out of her mouth.

"Really?" The beaver raised an eyebrow. "Pinky-swear?" She held out her pinkie.

Adrian nodded. "Yeah." she whispered. "Pinky-swear." She locked pinkies with the girl before letting go. The beaver smiled.

"So, who are you?" she asked.

"Adrian." Adrian replied. "And you?"

"Hazel." The beaver answered. "My family lives south of here, by the river. I snuck out to get some swimming practice in."

"You swim?" Adrian asked. She didn't really know much about beavers.

"You don't?" Hazel countered.

"No sabers do. At least, none that I've heard of." Adrian shrugged.

"All right, it's my turn to ask now." Hazel smiled again; this seemed like a fun game to her. "Where do you live?"

"We move around. But most of the time we're with our pack." Adrian scratched a stone with her claw. "I don't like the Pack, though. All the grown-ups are so serious all the time. And all the other cubs pick on me, because I'm accident-prone. You're the first real friend I've ever had."

"I have a bunch of sisters. Seven, to tell you the truth. I'm the oldest." Hazel sighed. "They're nice, most of the time, but we have to hide a lot from predators, like huge birds and...well...sabers."

"Sorry." Adrian mumbled.

"Hey, it's not your fault. But I'd better get back, before my momma notices I'm gone." She walked off into the bushes. "Bye!"

Adrian waved, and turned around to go back, when a looming shadow fell over her. Her father's shadow.

"H-hi." she waved again, this time fearfully. "Listen, I know what you're thinking..."

"What have you done?!" he yelled, for the whole forest to hear. "Not only did you refuse to kill that beaver, you made friends with it?!"

"Her." Adrian stood her ground. "And she's nice."

"That doesn't matter. _She's_ prey. For us! Don't you understand, you muddle-headed waste of a tiger?!" he demanded. Then, he peered off in the direction Hazel had gone. "If you're too stupid to do it, I'll get her myself." He started to charge forward.

"NO!" Adrian yelled. She did not know where she was getting her courage from, she only knew that she could not let her father kill Hazel. Jumping up, she bit down hard on his paw. With a roar of pain, her tired to shake her off, finally hitting her against a rock, where she fell unconscious.

* * *

Lydia raced to the scene. "Johan? What's happening? I heard a noise..." It was then she noticed her daughter's body lying in the grass.

"What have you done?!" she yelled, bending down over her. "Is she dead?" She prodded her gently with a paw.

"What does it matter? If word gets out of this, we'll be the laughingstock of the Pack!" he hissed at her.

"She's alive." Lydia confirmed, then turned back to her mate. "How could you do this? To your own daughter?"

"She is no offspring of mine." Johan said calmly. "Now come, we must leave here immediately."

"You don't mean you're going to leave her?" Lydia demanded, shocked.

"We have no choice, Lydia. Now come." He started to walk off. Lydia's eyes filled with tears. "But...my baby..."

"Your baby is dead." he snarled. "That's what we'll tell them. She died. Killed by another saber."

"Johan..."

"LYDIA! NOW!" He roared, and bounded off through the forest.

Lydia nudged her little girl goodbye, and slowly followed her husband, sobbing.

* * *

Adrian slowly opened her eyes. Every bone in her body felt like it had been crushed, and her head was spinning. As her vision started to clear, she saw that it was about twilight. She remembered her father had knocked her against the rock, but where was he now? She stood up shakily, and smelt the air. No trace of sabers.

"Father?" she asked, turning her head from side to side, half-hoping her would come back. This wood in daylight was scary and unfamiliar. "Mother? Mom? Mom! Dad! Hello? ANYONE!" She called and called, not an answer. That was it. They were gone.

She sat down on her haunches and beagn to sob. She had no idea how to fend for herself, she was only a child. Adrian was crying so loudly, she didn't even hear the rustling in the bushes, or the small, furry form of Hazel coming to comfort her.

"I heard your dad, right before I left, and came back to see what was going on. He knocked you against a rock and you didn't move." She laid a small paw on Adrian's shoulder. "Then, your dad said to your mom to leave you...I'm sorry."

Adrian wasn't surprised at her dad's behavior, but how could her mom so easily let her go? "What'll I do now?" she asked.

"Hey!" Hazel sprang up. "You could come live with us! Me and my mom and my sisters. We'll adopt you! We could teach you how to swim, get food for you, all that stuff. And they'll love you! That is, if you don't eat any of 'em."

"I pinky-promised, didn't I?" Adrian smiled at the idea. Hazel's family seemed kind, better than hers had been. She lifted herself off the ground, and said "I'm in, _sis_. Lead the way."

* * *

A/N: Review, please! This takes place in the past, and the next chapter jumps to after Ice Age 3


	2. First Meetings

It was a cool, clear morning. The sun shone through the tree leaves, casting a warm glow on the valley. There were patches of snow, but not as much as there regularly was.

Diego yawned, stretching out his limbs, and looked around. The rest of his herd was still asleep, so he figured a walk would do him some good. He walked for a while before coming to a clearing he had never seen before. A waterfall emptied its contents into a large pool full of shimmering blue water, where a family of beavers was playing.

"I got you!" one of them shouted to her sister, splashing her with water.

"Well, I'munna get you!" she challenged, chasing her up the river.

"Hey, don't go too far now!" one of the others called out, another girl beaver who was nearly grown into adulthood. Realizing he'd been standing there for over a minute, Diego shook his head and continued on.

One of the kids, not listening to her elder, did a belly-slide down the shallow end of the river. "Yahoo!" she yelled happily.

The supervisor rolled her eyes. "Hannah, you better get yourself back here!" she yelled. "Or I'm telling Mom!"

"I'm coming, jeez!" Hannah yelled back, jumping out of the river…right in front of Diego. As expected, the girl saw him, and she screamed.

"Haaaazel!" Hannah yelled. "Saaaaber!" Diego backed away, he wasn't even hungry right now, and getting into a fight this early would only mean trouble.

"What?! Hang on, I'm coming!"

It was another voice, that came from close by. Before he had time to react, a flash of golden fur raced in front of the child.

"Rrrar!" the female saber roared, baring her fangs. "Get out of here! You're not eating any of my family!"

"_Your_ family?" Diego asked, watching her warily. Ellie had lived with possums most of her life, but a carnivore living with beavers was even more incredulous.

"Yes, _my_ family. This is _my_ home. It's been _my_ home for most of _my_ life-oh, I don't have to explain myself to you!" she yelled. "You just get out of here!"

"But I wasn't-if I was going to eat her, don't you think I would have by now?" he reasoned.

"Ha! I'm tougher than you think!" the saber challenged. She started to run forward, when her foot got stuck in a nearby tree root. The result was the she barely got more than five inches before she was flung back again.

"I can see that." said Diego sarcastically. The beaver he had seen from the pool ran forward out of the grass.

"About time you got here!" Hannah shouted.

Hazel narrowed her eyes. "No lip out of you, young lady, you're in enough trouble as is." she warned. Then, she turned to the saber. "Adrian! What happened...did he hurt you?"

"No, just those darn tree roots again. I don't know why they always keep tripping me up." she grumbled, trying to unhitch her foot and get back up.

"I can't help you with that. Us beavers aren't that good with manuvering on land." Hazel pointed out.

"I know. But you'd think after ten years..."

"Excuse me? What's going on?" Diego interrupted. The two both glared at him.

"You've got no right to talk, considering you nearly ate our little sister." Hazel said angrily, scooping Hannah up in her arms. "I told you, I _wasn't_ going to eat her." he repeated. The other saber's eyes narrowed as they stared into his. "He means it." she said to the beaver, after a long while. "He's telling the truth, Hazel, I can tell."

* * *

This was the first time Diego saw her clearly. She had golden fur that shone in the sunlight, pearly white fangs that were a lot smaller than his, and a little more dulled. Her eyes were big, and dark brown, that shone with an innocent, almost childlike trust. She had a thin build, which meant she probably didn't eat as much as the normal saber. Nevertheless, she was beautiful, for someone who tried to appear ominous.

"What?!" Hazel yelled in shock, nearly dropping her sister. "How do you know 'he means it'?"

"It wouldn't be the first time a saber's word wasn't believed, remember?" she hinted, smiling. "And he makes a good point. If he wanted to kill Hannah, she would be nothing but skin and bones now."

"You sure? Positive? We're talking about my sister here." Hazel demanded. The saber shook her head.

"You forget," she told her calmly. "she's my sister, too." Hazel nodded, and set Hannah down, who ran back off towards the rest of her family.

"So," the saber asked, turning her attentions back to Diego. "Who are you? And what are you doing here, if you're not hunting?"

"Well, I-um-uh-I was just-I'm D-D-Diego." he stuttered nervously. Which was a first for him.

The saber smiled warmly. "Well D-D-Diego, I'm Adrian." she introduced. "And this is my sister, Hazel."

"Figures." Diego said, looking at the beaver's green-and-brown eyes. She scowled, and took off after Hannah. Adrian laughed.

"Sorry, she's not that friendly with strangers. So, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Just walking. My herd lives around here." he replied. Then he remembered, he'd been gone for a long while. Did they notice yet? He didn't want them to send out a search party on his behalf.

"Herd?" Adrian repeated confusedly. "Don't you mean Pack?"

"No, I mean _herd_. I left my Pack, a long time ago. Seems you did too." he assumed.

"'Abandoned' is more the word." she said sadly, turning her head away. When he was about to question, she cut him off. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh." Not knowing how to respond, he figured striking up another question couldn't hurt. "How does that work, you living with beavers...?"

"They took me in, after I was, you know, left. Hazel found me, and took me to see her parents. They were a little apprehensive at first, until she told them I didn't eat meat."

"You what?" This was perhaps the biggest shock.

"I don't eat meat. Never have." she repeated, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "I never learned to hunt, anyways. I just eat berries, when I can find them. They're getting more scare every year."

"Oh." he said again. "Then what was with..."

"...the whole 'fighting' persona?" she finished. "Well, what would you do if your sister was in trouble? Normally, it's hawks or falcons who go after us, and they get scared easily. We haven't had another saber around here ever since...well, me. That was the first time I've ever roared like that, actually."

"Lucky me." he joked. She laughed again, and looked up at the sky. "Oh, is it that late already? I'd better go, Hazel and the others'll have to find breakfast in a couple minutes, and they need me. I don't mean to brag, but I skin bark like there's no tomorrow." She smiled, showing her fangs.

"Yeah, so-see you around sometime?" he asked, hoping he would, despite her oddities.

"Probably. It's a small world." she replied, and bounded off through the grass. "Nice meeting you, Diego!"


	3. Beavers, Thoughts, and Moonlit Skies

"Adrian!"

Adrian's pulled her mind back down to earth, where she was sitting outside with her siblings eating dinner under the moonlight, and her beaver-mother was looking at her confusedly.

"You've been staring at your food for over ten minutes. Are you all right?" she asked, concerned.

"Yes, Mom." she mumbled. It didn't feel awkward calling Annabeth the beaver Mom, she'd treated Adrian like a daughter for as long as she knew her.

"Yeah, don't worry, Mom. She's just thinking about that tiger she met today." Hannah giggled. "That _guy_ tiger."

"A saber? Why didn't you tell me about this? Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" Annabeth immediately sprang into 'overprotective parent' mode.

"No, Mom, he didn't hurt anyone. We talked for a while, and he seemed nice." Adrian reassured.

"You thought he _looked_ nice too, didn't you?" Hannah teased.

"That's enough out of you." Hazel shushed. "Just eat."

"Well, she did! She was just thinking about him, right now I bet." Hannah objected. "Weren't you, Adrian?"

Fact of the matter was, Adrian had been thinking about the green-eyed saber nonstop since she met him, but only said "Hazel's right, Hannah, eat your blueberries. There's lot of nutrition in them, you know."

Right after dinner, Hannah went off to talk with her younger sisters, Hildy and Hailey. Adrian couldn't make out a word they were saying, and switched between watching them out of the corner of her eye, and trying to see patterns in the stars, a favorite pastime of hers.

"They're right, you know."

She hadn't even seen Hazel walk up to her. "Right about what?" she questioned.

"Just commenting. I heard the girls talking over there." Hazel picked up a stick off the ground, and began nibbling some of it off.

"And let me guess...it's about me and Diego, isn't it?" Adrian shook her head.

"Right on the mark, as usual. They're debating over whether you finally found 'the one'."

"'The one'?" Adrian scoffed. "I didn't even know he existed until eight hours ago."

"Well, they are right about one thing. You and I are the oldest, and it's time you found someone." Hazel advised.

"So what, am I supposed to set my sights on the first saber I see in ten years?"

"If he's a guy, yes."

"Look who's talking! You've got plenty of beaver guys waiting on you paw and foot, but you turn them all down." Adrian pointed out. "If that isn't hipocritical, I'm not sure what is."

"Beavers have longer life spans, I got plenty of time. You, on the other hand, need to find a mate first chance you get." Hazel took another bite of the stick, and pointed it at her adopted sister. "And it's not like you're totally against the idea."

"Meaning...what?" Adrian asked again. "Come on, you have to name names for me to understand what you're talking about."

Hazel smiled. "Okay, name names, I can do that. Meaning; _you _are not against the idea that, let's say in a year or so, having a litter of cubs all named Fuzzhead Jr."

"_I just met him_!" Adrian hissed hurriedly, not wanting to draw Hannah's attention. "And besides, even if I did like him like that-which I don't-he doesn't feel the same way about me."

"How sure are you of that?" Hazel insisted. When Adrian didn't respond, she added "I'm not giving up on this subject, it'll be easier on yourself if you just admit it."

"Those ceder saplings went to your head." Adrian grumbled, as Hazel came an uncommonly mischievious smile, and walked towards Hannah, Hildy, and Hailey. "All right, you three, enough gossip for one night. Get back in the dam and go to bed."

"But Ha-zel..." Hailey whined.

"No buts. Now off you get." She pointed to the nest of branches at the end of the river, and the three beaver girls headed off sourly.

"You coming?" Hazel asked Adrian, as she walked past her. She hopped off the boulder she was resting on.

"Not yet, I'm just going to go for a walk." She started to meeander toward the thicket of oak trees.

"All right, but you better be home by midnight, or Mom'll have a heart attack." Hazel warned, setting off after her younger sisters. As Adrian brushed past bushes and tall grass, she couldn't help but wonder what _was_ going through Diego's mind.

* * *

The moon was shining on the herd of three mammoths (two relaxing, one playing tag with her uncles), two possums, a sloth eating the last of the food, and a saber staring up at the sky, lost in thought. Little Peaches was only just starting to understand the game, and ran up to her uncle Diego. "Play?" she asked, with a smile on her face.

"Maybe later, squirt, I'm a little tired right now." he said. Peaches pouted, but before she could throw a fit, Diego handed her a gemstone, one of the many toys she played with. Manny had given it to her for her first birthday.

"Ooh!" she said, staring at her reflection for a while before remembering she was 'it' and running after Crash. He smiled. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw...no, it was only because he'd been thinking about her for hours. But he doubled checked, just to make sure. And yes, a few trees ahead of him, he saw Adrian's dark brown eyes staring in his direction, her thin outline framed by the moonlight.

"I'm-I'm going to go for walk, guys." he said hurriedly, sitting up.

"Two in one day?" Sid asked. "You feeling restless or something?"

"Suppose so." he answered absentmindedly. He hadn't yet told the herd about his encounter with Adrian. Why? Well, herbavore or not, he knew they would still be a little edgy having another saber around. And he hadn't even known if he was going to see her again, besides.

"All right, well, don't wander off too far." Ellie called, as he ran furthur into the forest.

* * *

"Adrian!"

Adrian stopped, and looked around cautiously. Not many animals came to a cave, unless they had no home. "Who's there?" she asked, peering into the darkness.

She heard panting. "I kept calling you...I didn't know if you heard me or not." the voice said exhaustedly.

"Diego!" she confirmed. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't hear you. But why were you following me?"

"I saw you nearby, and...well, I wasn't sure if I was ever going to see you again. You know, since the last time I saw you." he stuttered. "Why were you going here?"

"Oh, just walking." she dismissed.

"Why? Something on your mind?" he asked. She refused to meet his eyes, instead, hers browsed over the wall nearby, which was covered in drawing of animals and humans_. Or someone_.

"You notice there are hardly any recent drawings on these?" she commented quickly, changing the subject. Luckily, he went along with it.

"How can you tell?" His paw scraped the side of the wall.

"Well, you see, the newer ones have a whitish residue near the edge. And all of these are plain black, which means they're about three to four years old." she explained, pointing to one of an antelope. "My mother taught me." She sharpened her claw on the side of the rock, then started to draw eight small figures on an empty space.

"This one's my mom." She pointed to the largest one. It had a flabby tail that stuck out to one side. "The ones after her are my sisters."

"But there's about seven." he observed. She nodded. "Yes. Hazel's the oldest, then there's Helen, then Heather, then Harriet, then Hannah, then Hailey, then Hildy."

"Your mom couldn't have known about cave drawings, though. Beavers don't live in caves." Diego stated questioningly. Adrian sighed. "I mean my _mother_ mother. My tiger mother. She used to teach me all kinds of things, like how you make drawings in the rock-" She tilted her head towards the night sky "-or how to connect stars to make them look like animals. See, there-" She pointed a claw up at a group to the left. "My mother says that's the Great Saber. She watches over all sabers, and protects the good of heart. My father said it was a he, though, and he only cared about those who were the toughest and strongest."

"He sounds like a great guy." Diego said sarcastically, hoping to make her smile again. But instead, she bit her lip. "He wasn't the best dad in the world. He always yelled at me, said I wasn't good for anything, and even contemplated just leaving me behind somewhere. Which-" her eyes grew wider as she spoke "-was actually what he did, one day."

"Why?" Diego had known how ruthless other sabertooth tigers could be, but the idea of anyone abandoning a daughter who was as sweet and beautiful as Adrian was almost incomprehensible to him.

"He wanted me to kill Hazel, as practice for hunting. I refused, and when he went to kill her himself, I tried to stop him. He knocked me out, and when I woke up...he was gone. My mother, too."

"That's...I..." Diego didn't know what to say.

"So the beavers adopted me. They were a lot better than my family had been, and Annabeth, Hazel's mom, treated me like one of her own as well. But I still remember my mother sometimes, and I miss her. She was kind. And brave, too, but a certain kind of brave. She knew a lot, too, and tried to teach me everything. Her name was Lydia. I don't know what that means, but it was a really pretty name. It sounds like a flower name, doesn't it?" Adrian tried to ramble on to expell her sufferings, but a tear forming in her eye showed that it was failing.

"Yeah...she sounds nice." Diego mumbled. He wasn't used to having people cry around him, and apparently, his discomfort showed. She wiped away the tear, looking a little embarrassed.

"Jeez, some of that chalk dust must have got in my eye or something." Adrian lied, shaking her head. "Anyways, yeah, my life was rough, I've never talked to anyone about it except for Hazel, so...there. You get the gist of it, I won't waste your time telling about my troubles-"

While Adrian had been talking on, clouds began to form rapidly over the sky. Now, at last, a roar of thunder came, cutting off Adrian mid-sentence. A burst of lightening followed a split-second after, hitting the tree branches.

Eyes widened in fear for both their families, Diego and Adrian raced out into the open, staring, as more lightening struck. Within seconds, the forest was ablaze in a sea of red and orange that lit through the dark night like a homing beacon. Screams were heard from every part of the woods as animals fled for their lives.

"I have to find my herd, and get them out of there." Diego said quickly to Adrian, racing into the flames. She stood there hopelessly, fearing for Diego's life. But at the same time, she knew her family was probably sleeping in the dam, and wood was way more flammable. So she turned the other way, and squinting her eyes against the bright flames, charged into the fire.


	4. Fire and the Great Saber's Will

_"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves."-William Shakespeare_

* * *

"Mom!" Adrian yelled, as she darted through the forest. It was getting harder to breath and see. The grass was lit alight as well as the trees, so her feet were literally burning. Skidding to a stop in the river, the only fireproof place there was, she searched around through squinted eyes for her family. Then, she saw Annabeth, stuck under a huge log. The fire hadn't reached this part of the forest yet.

"Cough-cough-Mom! Don't worry, I'm coming!" she yelled, hacking as she sprinted through the water.

"Adrian!" Annabeth said weakly, struggling to get free.

"Hang on, I'll get you out." Adrian pushed at the log, panting and gasping, but it didn't budge.

"We fled as soon as we saw the fire. Hazel and your sisters are safe, thank goodness, they got out in time." Annabeth reassured.

"But why'd you come back?" Adrian questioned.

"I didn't know where you were. I told Hazel to take the young ones and go, I would follow behind them when I found you. And then _this_ fell on me." She tried again to wriggle free, and the flames crept closer.

"It's…not…moving!" Adrian yelled, beginning to cough again as she pushed against the log.

Annabeth's eyes shut. "Adrian-cough-cough-you need to get out of here." she said calmly.

"What? But I can't leave you!" Adrian shouted.

"It's too late for me. You get out of here while you still have a chance." Annabeth insisted, coughing.

"You're not dying on my account." she argued, still pushing against the log

"For beavers, once you turn forty-two, you're practically dead already." She laughed dryly, which turned into a cough as she breathed in the smoke again. "Point is, I don't want you-cough-to burn on behalf of an old widow like me. You're my daughter, no-cough-matter what."

"And that's why I have to stay here. You're my _mother_. I'm getting you out of this, no matter what."

The family's dam, only a few feet away, had been set alight. Adrian could already feel the scorching heat on her face. Annabeth sighed again. "Forgive me." she begged, with a sense of finality. "I love you."

And with those words, she turned her body quickly to the side, breaking her ribs in the process. The log swatted Adrian into the safety of the deep pool by the waterfall.

"MOM!" she coughed, sticking her head out of the water. Weighted down by her wet fur, she could only watch helplessly as the roaring demon of a fire engulfed her mother, sending her selfless spirit to the world above.

* * *

Meanwhile, Diego and the herd had beaten the fire, and were safely outside the forest. The rain had come now, after the lightening, extinguishing the fire quickly.

"How's Peaches?" Manny asked Ellie, who had her daughter scooped up in her trunk.

"She'll be okay." Ellie said, relieved. As Peaches coughed and cried from the ordeal, Ellie comforted "Ssh, Peaches, ssh. Everything's all right now. It's gone, see. Fire's gone. It's all right now."

"But where are we gonna live?" Crash asked.

"We'll travel until we find someplace to stay. The important thing is that we're all alive." Ellie replied. But Diego was still not so relieved yet.

"Diego? Where are you going now?" Sid asked.

"A friend of mine's still back there. I don't know why she hasn't come out yet." he explained.

"A girl? Wait-Diego!" Sid yelled. But he had already raced off into the charred remains of their former home. Exchanging worried looks, the herd followed him.

* * *

"Adrian?!" Diego called out, looking around. "Adrian, where are you?" Just as he was about to give up, he heard sobs coming from the riverbend. "Adrian!" He jumped through the bushes, happy that she, at least, had survived the disaster. But his smile faded, as he saw what had happened.

The scorched grass was a dark black, and the oak trees were merely grey stumps on the ground. Adrian sat beside the body of a burned female beaver, tears falling from her eyes.

"Adrian?" he asked, coming closer. She looked up at him briefly, her eyes bloodshot.

"Mom's dead." she confirmed. "It's my fault, all my fault. She-sniff-got Hazel and the others out, but-sniff-came back for me. If I h-hadn't wandered off..."

She was interrupted by the herd, who had just caught up with Diego. They all gasped.

"Peaches, don't look honey." Ellie shielded her daughter's eyes so she wouldn't have to see the dead beaver.

"Who's she?" Sid asked, gesturing to Adrian.

"She got stuck under a log." Adrian continued. "I tried to pull her free, but it wouldn't budge. The fire kept coming closer, so she pushed me out of the way and...and..."

Next thing they knew, she completely broke down, leaning her head on her mothers as more sobs escaped her throat. Manny, Sid, Crash and Eddie looked a little apprehensive at her being a tiger, but Ellie set Peaches down and walked forward bravely.

"I'm so sorry." she sympathized. "Was she a friend of yours?"

"She's my mom." Adrian answered tearfully.

"How does that work, exactly? Ow!" Crash asked, then recieved a thump on the head from Eddie. "What? It's just a question."

"Hazel's all right?" Diego asked.

"I don't know if I'll ever see her and my other sisters again, but yes, they're safe." Adrian nodded. "I don't know what'll happen now, though. Or where I'll live."

"You can come with us." Ellie offered.

"What?" Manny said in shock, then whispered "Ellie, _she's a saber_."

"A vegetarian saber." Diego defended.

"Again, what?" Manny repeated.

"Manny, she's just lost her entire family. And she's a friend of Diego's. That's a good enough reason for me."

"All right, fine." Manny gave in. "But she can't take all of the food like Sid does."

"That's right." Sid backed up, before he even knew what Manny was saying.

Adrian picked up her mother's body, and draped it over her back. "I won't." she said stiffly. "I can find my own food." Walking to the pool, she dug a small hole by another mound there, and laid the body in it. "So she's by her mate, Amos." Adrian explained, before any of them could say a word. "That's what she would have wanted."

* * *

The herd plus Adrian stopped in the cave to camp, where Adrian and Diego had been talking only a few hours ago. Adrian had gone out to find some berries to eat while everyone was asleep. She stared up at the stars. Not with happiness and hope, as she once had, but with hate.

_Why did you do this to us? Mother said you looked out for the good of heart, so why did you rip apart my family? Why did you ruin my life? Not once, but twice! _she mentally screamed at the Great Saber. _Why did you send that storm? Why did you let it kill Annabeth? She was one of the best and most caring creatures in the world besides my own mother, so why did you think she had to die? Did **I** do something wrong?_

She kicked at the ground angrily. _Was this all because I stepped out? Renounced the ways of the sabers by refusing to eat meat and living with beavers? _Looking at the berries in her claws that she had picked off the bushes, she scowled. "You want me to suffer? Is that what your goal is? WELL, I'M SUFFERING!" she screamed. "BELIEVE ME, I'M HURTING INSIDE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW 'OH GREAT ONE'?!" She fell down, exhauseted from her anger, and started to cry again. "Mom was wrong about you." she choked out. "You don't protect anyone. Well, I'm going to make sure you don't take me down so easily. I'm not going to have myself burned to a crisp, like my home. Like Annabeth." She wiped a few tears out of her eyes. "You won't protect me, like I thought you would for all these years. _I_ have to protect me." She shook her head, and standing up, walked slowly back to the cave. Unaware, of course, that Diego had heard every word she said from nearby.

* * *

Sorry I ended it there, but next chapter is better! Please review anyway!


	5. The Hedgehog's Directions

A/N: It's short, but I needed a cliffhanger ready so I could work on the details for the next chapter. Hope you like it, and please review!

* * *

Two days passed. Two days since Adrian had lost her family, her forest home. Two days since she had joined the herd. She had cried her heart out the first night, where only Diego had seen her (but even she did not know). Now, she was ghostlike, hardly saying anything to anyone. No smile formed upon her lips, there was no happiness in all she did. She was a morose stranger, not at all like the golden-furred spitfire Diego had met.

He felt ashamed of himself for not even trying to comfort her. But then again, what could he say? _I'm sorry for your loss, but you have to get over it and move on?_

Any way you sliced it, it sounded callous.

The rest of the herd did nothing. Manny was against having another saber in the herd from the start, so it wasn't much trouble for him to pretend she wasn't there. Ellie, like Diego, wanted to help, but didn't exactly know what to say. And Peaches was too young to understand what was going on, anyway.

All of them had their own problem as well; where would they live, now that the forest was gone? They could move around for a while, but sooner or later, they'd have to find a permanent home. And with the other animals taking claims on land as fast as they could, it looked like it was going to be later.

* * *

"Nope." The hedgehog shook his head. "Every bit of this place is taken, and unless you want a dozen angry animals fighting you for territory, I suggest you look somewhere else."

Manny sighed. He'd thought for sure that the area by the ice dam (at least, it had been a dam before the flood two years ago) wouldn't have many residents.

"Thanks." he mumbled. "Come on, guys," he said to the rest of the herd. "Let's go."

As they started to move on, Eddie scowled at the hedgehog.

"Yeah, thanks. For nothing." he grumbled, climbing up onto his sister's shoulder.

"Well _sorry_, but I can't conjure a habitat out of thin-aaah!" he yelled, jumping up as Adrian and Diego walked past. "Hey, you can't hunt in this area! Go on, git! Git!" he shooed.

"Well, excuse us for walking." Diego snapped. Adrian just stared at the ground sadly, as usual.

"What's with your friend, eh?" the hedgehog queried, forgetting to be afraid for a minute. "Cat got her tongue?"

He gave a loud, wheezing laugh. Adrian still said nothing.

"None of your business." Diego defended. "Come on, Adrian." He gestured forward, and she moved along, her feet nearly dragging across the ground.

The hedgehog shook his head. "Are they all one group?" he asked himself. "Jeez, I ain't since one that big since that family of beavers came by-"

"Beavers?" Adrian stopped in her tracks.

"Oh. It speaks." the hedgehog grumbled.

"How many beavers?" Adrian asked, ignoring the comment.

"'Bout seven. All of 'em sisters with reddish fur. The oldest one had green and brown eyes, that much I can remem-"

She smiled, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "Hazel!" she yelled to the others happily. "She came through here. With my sisters." The porcupine laughed again.

"Sisters? Ha! Well, don't that just beat all."

The herd, having not seen Adrian this animated, watched silently.

"Can you tell me which way they went? Did they say where they were going?" She raced back over to the hedgehog, causing him to flinch.

"Hold your horses, carnivore." he argued. "You'll probably eat me after I tell you."

Adrian sighed exasperatedly. "Do I need to scream it to the world? I'm a vegatarian!"

"And a rotten liar." he shot back.

Fed up with the lack of cooperation, and ticked (to say the least) from her ordeal, Adrian took a step closer, her eyes narrowed. "Listen, _buddy_, you better tell me where my family is _right now_," she hissed dangerously. "I may only be able to eat bark and berries, but I do happen to know that we're near Iceberg Falls. If need be, I will drag your sorry carcass up there, and throw you over the edge. Oh, and it's a 130-foot-drop, so you probably won't survive. Understand?"

He nodded.

If she wasn't so scary, Diego could have smiled. She still had a carnivore's ruthless temper, even though she wasn't one.

"Good." She smirked. "Now, _where_ are the beavers?"


	6. Terror and the Herd's Decision

"T-T-The Labyrinth of T-T-Terror." the frightened hedgehog squeaked out.

"What?!" Adrian roared, shocked.

"It's crazy, I know, but that's where they said they were going. I overheard them talking."

"No," Adrian pawed at the ground furiously. "It can't be! Hazel wouldn't do that. It sounds like a suicide trip."

"Oh, it is." the hedgehog agreed. "It's not really a maze, actually, but it's a long trek across mountains, marshlands, blizzard countries, and everywhere in between. And it's filled with deadly challenges."

"Like what?" Diego asked, curious.

"Well, first is the Cliffs of Memory. There's something in the air there, it causes you to remember things from long ago. Sometimes good, sometimes bad."

"Second?" Eddie piped up, gulping.

"The second is the Maze of Confusion-"

"How quaint." Manny said sarcastically.

"-which, as it's named, uses hallucinations and fog to get its victims lost. Most never come out again."

"I don't think I want to know the third now." Crash whimpered.

"The third one is the worst of all. Unspeakably evil and death-defying beats, preying on everything in sight…and everyone. They'll chomp you up faster than you can say 'Uncle'!"

"How do we know you're not just trying to scare us?" Diego demanded. "Have you been there?"

"It's all true, I swear! I haven't been fool enough to risk the journey myself, but Phineas has."

"Who's Phineas?" Crash asked.

"A beaver. He's the only one who's been through the Labyrinth and lived, don't ask me how he did. But that was a long time ago."

"I can't believe this." Adrian paced around, lost in thought. "Why would Hazel and the others go through there?"

"On the other side of the Labyrinth...or so Phineas has said...there's a whole other world. Protected against the elements, with greener grass, bluer skies, and food laid out for 's filled with enough homes for everyone." the hedgehog answered. "But every great deal has a downside, and it's a risk this old-timer's not willing to take."

"They must have been in pretty bad shape, if they're willing to risk all that on the slight chance that-" Manny started.

"Where is the Labyrinth? How long might it take to get there?" cut off Adrian. The hedgehog laughed again, until he realized she was dead serious.

"Are you crazy, carnivore?! You want to go through the Labyrinth?"

"Hazel and my sisters are in danger. If it means we can help them...yes." she replied.

"What?!" Manny yelled. "What do you mean, 'us'?"

"If we go now, we can still catch up with them." Adrian explained. "I doubt they're a day or two ahead of us."

"But didn't you hear the guy? 'Labyrinth of Terror' doesn't sound like a place we should head towards in a hurry." he argued.

"They'll die if we don't! And besides, on the other side of it-"

"If we make it out alive!"

The tension in the air was causing even the hedgehog to feel uncomfortable. "Um...well, it's twenty-seven and a half miles north...so now you know about it, so...yeah, I'd better be going back in my hole now." he muttered. And with a pop, he squeezed himself back underground.

"Look, you and your family have been struggling along ever since the fire. Plus, fresh water and food have been running scare. This land is _dying_. Drying up. But over there-there's a chance at life again. For you. For Ellie and Peaches. For everyone. And it's protected, so there won't be any more forest fires to worry about." Adrian reasoned.

"If we do go-_which we won't_-fire will be the least of our worries," Manny stood his ground. "Didn't you hear what he said? Hungry monsters, blizzard country. Oh, and for the record, only one-_one _person-has made it through alive. And he's probably a psycho."

"Manny-" Ellie started.

"Her family's in danger if we don't go." Diego stressed.

"And if we do go, _our_ family will be in danger!" Manny scooped up Peaches. "What's gonna happen if Peaches gets lost in that Maze of Confusion thing? Or if Sid gets gored to death by some creepy creature? Or if you freeze solid!"

Adrian gasped, and her eyes widened.

"What then, Diego? I'm putting my foot down on this. We're not going, and that's final." Manny finished angrily.

"But she needs us-!"

"Diego!" Adrian held out a paw to stop him from speaking. She sighed. "Diego, he's right. Even if there is a Promised Land on the other side of the Labyrinth, I wouldn't want to risk yours-or your herd's lives to get there. It was selfish of me to suggest otherwise."

"But what about your family?" Diego couldn't believe she would give up the chance to find her sisters.

"I'll go find them in the Labyrinth myself. No one else should have to."

"You mean...you're leaving?" Ellie asked.

"I have to." She faced the rest of the herd. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I see now that this is a journey I have to make alone. I don't know if I'll see you all again, but I hope you find a home and have a wonderful future." She lowered her paw, and turning north, she ran off.

"Wha-Adrian! Adrian, wait!" Diego bounded off after her, determined not to lose her.

* * *

Diego managed to jump in front of her after almost half a mile. "You can't leave!" he growled.

"I have to." she repeated.

"Well, then I'm coming with you."

"Diego, you can't. What about your family? They need you." She cut in front of him, the long grass brushing against her feet. "Who's going to protect them?"

"Who's going to protect _you_?" he shot back at her. "I don't want to lose you, Adrian. I..."

"The feeling's mutual." she interrupted. "When Manny said he wouldn't be able to bear it if his family died-"

"That's not exactly what he-"

"Just let me finish! When he said that, it made me think. If you came along with me, and got lost or frozen or anything else involving a gruesome death...I wouldn't be able to live with myself, knowing I put you in that peril. And the same for your herd, too. Even though they don't trust me...don't give me that look, Diego." she snapped, as he raised an eyebrow. "I know they don't. Ellie might, but not the rest of them. Even though they don't, I would hate for any of them to suffer on my behalf."

"But even if you do find Hazel and your sisters...it means I'll probably never see you again." he said, voice strained. _If I let her leave_, Diego thought, _I'll regret it forever_.

"I know." she said bitterly, staring down sadly at her paws. "I'll miss you, Diego. But please, go back to the herd. For me."

_I'd rather never see him again than know that he died because of me._ she said to herself mentally. "Please." she begged, a tear now falling from her eye.

He didn't want to admit it, but he felt like crying, too. "Well, take care of yourself." he choked out, after a long while.

"You too." she mumbled. They faced each other, knowing they were saying goodbye for the last time. Overcome with grief, Adrian nodded at him, gave a small smile, and ran farther north. She wasn't even peeved that he saw her cry.

* * *

Manny set Peaches down, where she looked in the direction Diego had ran. "Where Uncie Dee-go?" she asked.

"He'll be okay. He's just saying goodbye." Ellie replied sadly. Even though Adrian had only been in the herd two days, she was going to miss her.

"He'd better hurry up, we need to get moving." Manny said indifferently. Ellie stared at him.

"Doesn't it bother you knowing she'll be facing all that danger alone? She's got hardly any chance of making it by herself." she asked.

"She's been acting like she's on her own for two days. She wasn't even talking to anyone until a few minutes ago."

"But she's a member of our herd."

"_Was_, Ellie. You heard that 'farewell speech' she gave."

"You just don't like her because she's a saber." Ellie pointed out.

"Diego kept saying she wasn't a meat-eater, I know. But I always was worried that if I turned my back for one minute...it's instinctive."

"But you didn't trust Diego at first for the same reason, and now you're best pals." Ellie argued. Sighing, she added "Just give her a chance, will you?"

"A bit late for that." Manny said, just as Diego came running back. "So? What'd she say?"

"That she didn't want any of us to die on her behalf." he quoted miserably.

"See, Manny? She has a good heart, I know it. Plus, Peaches likes her."

"Yeah, she even kept trying to say her name. She almost got it, too." Eddie laughed at the memory. "She kept saying 'A-trine'."

"Uh, guys," Diego piped up, looking around. "Speaking of Peaches, where is she?"

"What are you talking about?" Manny scoffed. "She's right here."

He looked down at the ground, and saw the little gemstone, the only trinket they managed to save from the fire. No Peaches.

"Peaches?" Ellie called out.

"Peaches? This isn't the best time to play Hide-and-Seek." Sid said, looking around.

"Oh, where is she?" Ellie asked worriedly.

A question none of them could answer.

* * *

A/N: Review, please! Sorry it took so long (again), but editing and a long process! I wasn't trying to create a dramatic cliffhanger (like before). I just thought it was an okay stopping point.


	7. The Stowaway and the New Danger

Never, in all her life, had Adrian run so fast. Her paws were burning up, like they had when she'd run through the forest fire. And this was different from that, because part of her wanted so _badly_ to turn back. The only thing she could hear was her heart, beating quickly, longingly. _Diego…Diego… _it seemed to say.

_Was this how my mother felt, leaving me? _she wondered. _Was she thinking about me every with every step she took, feeling as though part of her heart had been ripped out?_

_But I __**have**__ to keep going, _Adrian argued with herself._ Hazel and the others can't be far. _They were her sisters, after all. They needed her. _Do_ _they even know I'm alive? _she asked herself, trying to keep herself going. _I wonder if they know about Annabeth? _

She was going so fast, the world seemed to blur around her. "I'm almost there." she encouraged herself, panting. But after a while, she found it difficult to breathe.

"I'd…better stop here." she choked out, sliding to a stop by a pool of water. "J-Just for a little while. I won't be helping anyone if I…die from dehydration." She stumbled over to the pool, and drank up some of the water. Her knees were shaking, as if she had forgotten how to stand. Then, without warning, they gave out, and Adrian fell to the ground unconscious.

* * *

The 10-foot-crocodile watched as the saber fell down beside the water, and didn't get back up again. _Lunch_, it thought, licking its chops.

_But he'd have to wait,_ he reminded himself. The saber was too far on land, and he couldn't stay out of the water for long. He'd have to wait until she was awake enough to get closer, and if she so much put one paw in the deeper end of the pool...oh, she was done for, all right. He hadn't had anything to eat for a while, besides bugs or small squirrels, and even _they_ weren't coming as much now. A saber was a real treat indeed.

Another figure started to come closer, one more smaller. _A mammoth?_ he thought, confused. Mammoths never came out this far. Especially baby mammoths.

It started to walk towards the sleeping saber, not afraid in the slightest. Which only confused him more. Didn't sabers prey on mammoths? The baby girl touched the saber with her trunk. "Ay-trine?" she said. The saber didn't wake up.

_Maybe it will stay a while longer,_ the crocodile thought, with hope. _If I can have them both..._

But he'd have to wait until they were closer. He'd have to wait...

* * *

"Where could Peaches have gone?" Ellie said frantically. "She doesn't normally wander off by herself."

"Calm down. I've got an idea." Diego picked up the small gemstone and sniffed it.

"What are you doing?" Crash voiced, perplexed by the act.

"Getting her scent. That way, it'll be easier to track her down." he explained.

"Oh."

They all watched al Diego sniffed the air, and then walked to the left a few feet. Then to the right.

"What is it?" Manny asked.

"I've got her scent, but someone else's, too." Diego sniffed the air again. It was a mixture of red oak wood and some sort of flowers. Getting a sense of deja vu, he paced back and forth, trying to remember where he had smelled it last. The forest! The day he had first met...

"Adrian." he muttered, then aloud to the group, he concluded "She followed Adrian, when she saw her leaving."

"I told you she liked her." Ellie smiled. Manny wasn't as relieved.

"Let's hope we can still catch up to them. Diego, can you still get Adrian's scent?"

"I thought we were looking for Peaches?" Sid interrupted.

"She's on her tail already, as far as I can tell. If we find Adrian, we find Peaches." Manny explained. As Diego started running the way Adrian had gone, the rest of the herd followed.

_I'll have to thank that kid someday_ Diego thought, nearly smiling. _I just hope Adrian isn't in the Labyrinth already._

* * *

"Ay-trine?"

Something poked Adrian in the side. _Ugh...what's going on? Where am I? _she thought, still too tired to move.

"Ay-trine, wake up!"

"Whozair?" she mumbled, opening her eyelids an inch. Then, they opened wider in surprise. It was Peaches!

"Peaches? What are you doing out here?" she asked. Peaches smiled.

"I fa-whoa you, Ay-trine. Why you go?" she asked.

"I need to find my sisters." she explained softly. "They're in a bad place."

"Bad place?" Peaches repeated.

"Yes, very bad place. Where's Mommy and Daddy?"

"Dey back dere, wit Uncie Sid, Uncie Crash, Uncie Dee-go, and Uncie Eddie." she answered, smiling again.

"Do they know you're here?" Adrian asked, although she already knew the answer. Manny and Ellie would never let Peaches wander off alone.

"Eh...nu-uh. Daddy and Mommy were talking, an I saw Uncie Dee-go talking to you, Ay-trine. You were talking 'bout going away. You cry, too. I done like see you cry, an I know you not want go if you cry. Uncie Dee-go not want you go, too." Here, Peaches giggled. "Uncie Dee-go like you, I think. Anywho, I think you need someone help you, so I go fa-whoa you. You run long way, Ay-trine, but I stiw fa-whoa. An den you stop, an you faw asweep an no get up. So I think something wrong, an I poke you an say 'Get up, Ay-trine.' an you done, so I poke you again. An now you awake." she replied.

_Oh, great._ Adrian thought sarcastically. _Just great. Now they'll think I'm a baby snatcher! Like they didn't trust me enough already! And the Great Saber forbid, they've gone around looking. How am I going to find them now? It's been hours!_ But all she said aloud was "Some tracking skills, kid"

Peaches giggled again. "Thanks." she said. "So where you go?"

"First, maybe we'd better go find your mommy and daddy." Adrian started to stand up shakily. "They'll be worried sick about you."

"But I here wit you-"

"That's why they're worrying, squirt." she cut off. Seeing Peaches start to yawn, she added "You must be exhausted. Drink some water first, then I'll take you home."

"'Kay." Peaches leaned down beside the pool and started to drink. Adrian waited beside her, still thinking. What was she going to say to the herd?

"Ay-trine, look! Looka me!"

She turned around to see Peaches swimming around on the far end of the pool. "Ica swim!" she yelled proudly.

"Come on, we need to hurry if we want to get you home by sundown." Adrian called. "Come on back here."

"'Kay." she said again, and started paddling her way to the shallows. There was a splash from nearby, and Adrian didn't think much of it. _Probably a fish_, she thought. Until she double-checked, and saw that the fish had eyes and reptilian scales. It started rearing up out of the water, a huge gargantuan beast. Peaches still didn't notice.

"Look out!" Adrian yelled fearfully, snatching the kid out of the water with her arm before the beast could chomp.

* * *

"Ica swim!"

The baby mammoth girl splashed around in the water. Entree to go, thought the crocodile, his stomach rumbling. The saber spoke, but he wasn't listening, he just started swimming carefully towards the child.

_Darn, she's in the shallows now,_ cursed the croc. But he shook his head mentally. _I can't wait any longer, or I'll starve!_ He reared himself up out of the water, but before he could engulf the meal in his giant jaws, the saber screamed, and pulled the child out of the water.

Not wanting his lunch to get away so easily, he crawled rapidly out of the water to face the two.

"Peaches, you go hide." the saber directed, pointing to the grassy plains. "Don't come out until I say so."

"Ay-trine-"

"Go! I'll deal with this bully." ordered the saber protectively. The child scurried off.

_Well, if I have to have the main course first, so be it. _

He smiled, and he and the saber began to circle each other, waiting for the other to strike. Then, with a roar, the saber pounced on his back, trying to dig her claws into his scaly flesh. The croc tried to throw her off, but she held fast.

_Sabers can't swim_, he remembered, and with that, he jumped into the deep end of the pool. If he couldn't finish her himself, the water sure would.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: Sorry I had to cut this sort, but it's not **exactly** a cliffhanger, because we know Adrian can swim (from living with the beavers for so long). But she'll still have to fight the croc! Will she win the battle? Will the herd get there in time to save her and Peaches? Will Adrian make it into the Labyrinth of Terror? Review, please, and tell me what you think!


	8. The Herd Together Again

The herd ran north. How fast or for how long, they did not know. Not even Diego. He was only concentrating on Adrian's faint scent, which was becoming more concentrated each few miles. They had finally reached a grassier plain by a pool of water.

Suddenly, Diego stopped.

"What…is it?" Sid asked, panting.

"The trail ends here. But," He looked around confusedly. "I don't see her anywhere. Or Peaches."

"Ditto for me." Eddie confirmed, jumping on Ellie's back and looking around.

"Something's wrong. Her scent couldn't have just disa-" Ellie started, but she was interrupted by a rustling in the grass, and the sound of "Mommy? Daddy?"

"Peaches?" Ellie gasped happily, as her daughter ran out of the grass. "Oh, thank goodness we've found you!" She wrapped her trunk around her happily.

"I saw-wy I run away, Mommy. I only try an fa-whoa Ay-trine. She need my help." Peaches explained, looking down at the ground sadly.

"Where is she?" Diego asked, trying to sniff the air again and failing to get her scent.

"Well, when I find Ay-trine, she fall down by water asweep. An she no get up…"

"Dehydration." Manny thought aloud. "Must have run for hours."

"So did we!" Sid pointed out, still panting.

"-so I try an wake her up. When she get up, she ask me why I hear. So I tell her, then she say she need take me back to you guys. I very tired and sore all over, so I yawn. An she say, then, 'go get drink of water first before we go'. So I drink, an because I feel very warm, I jump in pool an swim. I tell her to 'looka me' because I swim so good-"

"I'm sure you do, sweetie, but where is Adrian?" Ellie stressed.

"I getting to it, Mommy, I getting to it. I swim, but Ay-trine tell me we need time to hurry, an to swim back to her so we can go. So I do, but then monster come out of water-"

"Monster?!" they all said in unison. Crash, who was about to take a drink, started to move away from the water.

"-I no see him at first, but Ay-trine do, an she yell for me to look out and grab me before monster eat me-"

"Told you we could trust her." Ellie murmured to Manny. He didn't respond, still listening.

"-Monster come out of water an face us. Ay-trine tell me to hide in grass, and she fight him off. She say stay in grass an no come out."

Diego felt as though an icy shard had pierced him though the heart. Adrian? His Adrian fighting some giant monster? _Shut up, she's not __**my**__ Adrian. _he corrected himself, then cut in "Where's she now?"

"She in dere. Monster throw her in deep end of water. I no see them come out." Peaches replied, looking scared. "I hope she okay."

Then, there was a giant splash from the back end of the pool, and something dragged itself onto the land. Diego ran forward, preparing himself to face a twenty-foot-tall dinosaur. But it wasn't a dinosaur. It wasn't even a monster. It was a wet, shivering, and numerously cut Adrian.

"Ow...jeez!" Adrian yelled painfully, as the long grass scraped against her battered arms.

"Adrian?"

She turned to look at none other than Diego, with the rest of the herd behind him. Even in her pain, she mustered a smile.

"D-Diego! What are you doing...well, of course, Peaches-" she figured out, as the child scurried up to her.

"Ay-trine!" she yelled in alarm. "Are you hurt?"

"Eh, nothing I won't survive, kid." she reasurred, burhsing off her injuries with a slight nod of the head. Ouch, even **that** was painful.

"What happened to you?" Diego asked, trying to help her up. "What were you fighting?"

"Don't do that, I'm fine." she argued, pushing away his paw and standing up on her own. "And it was a ten-foot-crocodile, thanks for asking." she added, with a dry laugh.

"How'd you kill it?" Eddie asked fearfully.

"Well, every bit of it was plated...except its stomach." she summed up. "I'm not giving you any more details, except that he bit me here..." she moved her arm, showing some bruises the shape of teeth marks, "...and he gave me a pretty bad gash on my right leg before I finished him." She shuddered, as she walked away from the water. "To think...I'm not even near the Labyrinth yet, and I've nearly been killed already." she speculated aloud. "This is going to be much more deadly than I thought."

"Adrian." It was Ellie who spoke this time. "Manny wants to say something-go on, say it!" she hissed at him, nudging him forward with her trunk.

"Uh...yeah, so...thanks. For, you know, saving Peaches." he mumbled. "From the crocodile. She could have been its dinner if it wasn't for you."

"I did what I had to do. Plus, the kid's grown on me." Adrian replied, smiling as Peaches ran up to her.

"Wuv you too, Ay-trine." Peaches smiled.

"And we-I mean I, was wrong about you." he finished.

"Same here. Eddie and I wouldn't be tough enough to take down a ten-foot-croc." Crash added. "You're cool with us."

"Yeah-hey!" Eddie scowled at his brother. "What do you mean, **I** wouldn't be?"

"The point is," Ellie interrupted, before the twins could start fighting. "we're really grateful to you. All of us."

"Thanks. But you know, I'm still going to the Labyrinth. I can't give up on finding my sisters, or the chance of a new home."

"And we're coming with you."

"Diego, we've been over this before. I'm not going to put you or your family in danger."

"Exactly." Ellie smiled as well. "You're a part of our herd. You're a part of _our_ family, too. And in a family, we protect one another."

"Even if you're like SuperSaber, you can't get through the Labyrinth all by yourself." Eddie echoed.

"Besides," Diego laughed. "If you leave, Peaches'll probably just follow you again."

"True." Adrian laughed, too. "All right. We'll go together. But be careful, there's a long, dangerous journey ahead of us." She started north again, Peaches walking beside her, Manny, Diego, and Ellie following behind with Crash and Eddie on Ellie's back. Sid was munching on the grass as he walked. "Been there, done that." he said through a full mouth. "Several times."

A/N: Curse Writer's Block and my laziness! I was so mad with myself when I saw I hadn't put up a new chapter in two weeks! But thanks to kat's point about how a crocodile's weakness is their belly, which has no protection, I broke free of it and wrote this! Thank you, kat! And thank you to everyone else who reviewed my story! Hope you review some more! FYI, I will update my website (link is on my home page), so please check it out!


	9. The Cliffs of Memory

After a night's rest, the herd was at the start of the Labyrinth. There wasn't a sign, or any bones to mark the dangerous trail, but instead, the trail seemed to slope downwards, until it formed a bowl-shaped gorge. High rocks with flat slopes stood inside it, and beyond that was an area of mist and a huge glacial barrier that seemed to stretch up to the sky.

"_Whoa_." Crash and Eddie said in unison, their jaws dropping.

"Yep." Adrian just stood still, unfazed by the magnitude of the journey they were about to undertake. After a brief pause, she added "Come on. The Cliffs of Memory aren't far from here."

She started down the steep incline, her feet sliding at points on loose dirt and gravel, but still keeping her cool. The rest of the herd followed her, treading precariously.

"Aren't you nervous?" Diego asked her, as soon as their feet reached level ground.

"No." she answered simply, then cocked her head towards him. "Why, are you?"

"Not a chance." he scoffed. "It doesn't exactly look like a walk in the park, though."

"I know." She nodded, and her eyes misted up a bit, as though trying to remember something important. "It's just like…déjà vu, or something. This seems too familiar."

"Really? Cause that hedge said only that Phineas beaver made it through…"

"Yeah, I know." she interrupted, still lost in thought. "I'm just saying, it reminds me of something. I don't know what."

* * *

The Cliffs of Memory had quite a different atmosphere than the outside of the Labyrinth. It was covered in dust and dry air, with only a few berry bushes around. The cliffs took on a sandy color that matched the parched climate.

"What's the challenge here again?" Crash asked, tapping the side of one rock with his foot. "It doesn't seem too deadly."

"Yeah, but the water didn't seem to house a ten-foot croc, either." Manny pointed out. "Just keep your eyes open."

One step at a time, they crossed onto a steadily sloping rock and kept walking and looking around for signs of danger.

"Can we eat or something? I'm getting hungry." Sid grumbled.

"We shouldn't be touching anything here, Sid. It's too dangerous." Manny objected.

"But we've been walking for almost an hour." Crash argued back. "If something was going to rip us to shreds, they would have by now."

"We don't really need to worry about any monsters. The hedgehog told us all that would happen is that we'd remember stuff." Eddie backed up.

He sighed. "All right," Manny gave in. "But just be careful and don't go wandering off."

As Crash and Eddie scampered to a nearby bush with Sid, he started coughing loudly.

"What is it? Are you okay?" Ellie asked him, concerned.

"I'm okay...cough, cough." he mumbled. Peaches ran over to him. "Daddy no feel good?" she echoed.

"It's okay, hon. You go find some food with Mommy, okay?" he reasurred. She smiled, and ran back over to Ellie.

As he watched her, there was a flash of light. Suddenly, Peaches looked older, about nine years old, with more brownish fur and bigger feet. "Dad?" she said. But it wasn't her voice. It was the voice of a male child. _His_ child.

He blinked, and Peaches was back to her normal self again. _What's going on? _he asked himself. He turned to Ellie to tell her about what had happened, but then, she too beagn to change. Her fur became a silvery-blond color, and her eyes turned blue as sapphires. Her messy locks of hair were gone, replaced by only a few small hairs that matched her coat.

_Regina?_

* * *

The world began to change around him. Regina and his son became more clearer now. The rocks and dust faded away, replaced by a lake and tall trees. THey were they only ones there. He saw them move around, laughing and walking. And to his surprise, so was he.

"Dad? Is this that playground you were telling me about?" his son said enthusiastically. Manny's memory slipped away at the words. There was only now, here at the riverbank with his mate and son.

"Sure is, sport. But you're going to have to close your eyes now." he replied.

"Why?"

"Don't wanna spoil the surprise! I'll tell you when to open them, okay, Shaun?"

"Yeah, sure." Shaun wasn't too put out. His dad had been building this playground for months...and all just for him.

"Ah, no peeking!" Regina lectured wistfully, laughing when Shaun's eyes slid open to a slit. He shut them tighter.

"Which reminds me, Gina, you need to shut yours, too. It's a surprise for you both." Manny remembered.

"All right, all right." Regina smiled, and closed her dark blue eyes. They were at the entrance to the park now. Manny slid open the log that served as a barrier, and led them obth through it.

"All right, open them."

Immediatly upon opening their eyes, the two gasped. "Whoa!" Shaun exclaimed, smiling. "This is awesome!"

The playground was simply built, with a long slide made of ice, a small private pool, a swing made from vines, and a long stretch of forest behind him. Nevertheless, it was a young boy's paradise.

"Glad you like it." Manny simply said.

"Can I go play? Can I?" Shaun's eyes bugged out from excitement.

"All right, but don't wander off too far." Shaun hugged him happily before he ran off into the woods.

Regina laughed, and looked around. "Manny, it's beautiful." she exulted, brushing the side of the slide with her trunk.

"He deserves only the best. And he's already got it. The best playground, the best home. The best mother..."

"Aw." Regina wrapped her trunk with Manny's. "And he's got the best father, too."

Suddenly, they heard chanting in the distance. Shaun was running back frantically. "Mom! Dad! There's humans back there! They're coming!" he screamed, putting his trunk around Regina's leg.

Eyes widened in fear, Manny yelled. "You and Shaun get out of here, Gina. I'll deal with these guys."

"But Manny..."

"Get going!" he insisted. Holding onto Shaun with her trunk, Regina ran past the lake as quickly as she could.

Then, the hunters came in swarms, holding their spears in their hands. Manny couldn't even tell how many there were, but he was ready to fight to the death. With a single swipe of his trunk, he sent four men flying back, but five more struck back with their spears. He roared in pain.

"MANNY!"

He turned behind him to look. Some of the hunters had gotten past him, and had Regina and Shaun cornered under a cliff. She was holding Shaun away from their sharp spears.

"Dad!" he cried out. "Dad, help!"

"Gina!" He tried to get to her, but the hunters kept blocking him. WHen he knocked them away, they kept regrouping, seeming as numerous as the clouds in the sky.

_Why haven't they attacked them yet? _Manny was wondering. Another spear struck into his side, and he roared again.

"MANNY!" Regina screamed. "ROCKS!"

A few men had climbed the cliff, holding heavy boulders above their heads. Then, they threw them with all the strenth they could muster. One hit Gina in the head, and she was knocked out. Then, the spearmen decended upon her and Shaun, showing no mercy.

"NO!" Manny yelled. He tore the spears out of his flesh and fired back at the humans. He didn 't hit any of them, but his shots were so accurate they fled in terror.

He knew he was bleeding, but he hardly felt the pain as he rushed over to his injured wife and son.

"Dad..." Shaun said feebly, covered in blood. "Dad...ouch!" His mauled leg pushed against the rock as he tried to get up, but he failed.

"It's okay, son. You're going to be okay." Tears rolled down Manny's eyes. "We're going to take you home. We'll make you better, and then you can back to the park and swim. Just like you wanted."

"Dad...it...I don't think it hurts that much anymore." He reached out to Manny with his trunk, the two barely touching before it fell limp to the ground, and Shaun's eyes closed forever.

"Shaun? SHAUN!" Manny screamed with sadness and rage. Just like that, he son was gone. Forever. Then, Regina stirred.

"Gina? You're alive!" He ran over to her cut and bleeding form.

"What...what happened?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Those hunters. They threw rocks at you and Shaun and then speared you. I tried to stop them, but some of them kept me back. There's gone now, but..." His voice choked up. "S-Shaun...he's dead."

"Dead? No!" Regina tried to get up, but the pain stopped her.

"You're wounded, too." Manny held his trunk in hers. "You're gonna be okay though. I'll stay here with you all night. Every day until you're well enough to walk again."

"Ssh." Her eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to keep them open. "I've lost too much blood." She sighed. "Look, I can already see Shaun. He's waiting for me."

"Gina, you're going to get better." he stressed, now unsure whether he was trying to convince her or himself. She **had** lost too much blood.

"Manny, I l-love you. You make sure you survive. For Shaun and I. We'll be watching up there. Remember that-" Her eyes started to droop more, and her breathing became shallow. Then, she stopped breathing altogether.

* * *

"Manny?"

Ellie's voice woke him out of the memory. He was not beside his dead wife and son, he was by a bush with Ellie and Peaches, panting as though he had run a mile.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" Ellie asked nevously.

"I'm-I'm fine. Everything's okay." he stuttered, trying to regain his breath. And stop the tears from coming.

* * *

A/N: The hedgehog had said there would be painful memories brought up, and whose memory is more painful than Manny's (rhetorical question). I had some trouble deciding the name for Manny's wife and son, because I didn't want to rip off any other stories with them in it. But I think I did pretty well overall. I guess. Review, please, as always!


	10. Adrian's Memory

Meanwhile, Adrian was scoping out a nearby bush, picking off berries with her claws. Everyone was eating except Diego, he just paced around by her.

"Aren't you hungry?" she asked.

He raised his head. "Well, if anything comes by, you be sure to let me know." he said half-sarcastically.

"Oh, right. Sorry." She ate one of the berries off her claws. Then, she got an idea.

"If you're that hungry, we could share this bush." she suggested. "I'm sure there's more than enough berries." He just laughed.

"It's okay, I can wait." But then, his stomach rumbled, and he put a hand to it, trying to seem inconspicuous.

"Uh huh." It was Adrian's turn to be sarcastic. "Diego, there's not going to be any other animals out here for miles. Just try one, will you? You'll starve to death otherwise."

He sighed. "Might as well. But I don't think I'll like them." he mumbled. She moved aside to make room for him.

"I didn't think so, either. But they're much less of a hassle than hunting. Here, I'll show you how to get some." She pulled all the berries off her left paw and let them drop to the ground. "You ever seen how humans use their spears to stab at prey?"

"Only too well." he grumbled.

"Well, it's more or less the same way, except you use your claws." She raised a paw and looked at the many multicolored berries on the bush. "You just find one you want and-"

She poked at a bright red one with her claw. The sticky juice began dripping onto her paw.

"-you spear it." she finished. "But here's the tricky part; you can't retract you claws when you go to eat it, otherwise it'll just fall off. And if you leave it on too long, it'll get stuck to your paw. So you just pop it in your mouth, like so."

And she did just that. "Now you try." she offered.

Shaking his head, Diego thought _I hope I never have to do this again _before taking aim at a small blueberry.

"Nice." she said simply, watching him intently. Although he didn't mind her complimenting him, Diego did think this was a bit ridiculous for a meat-eating predator like him.

"Nothing to it-ow!" he snarled, as the claw nicked his lip when he popped the berry in his mouth. She let out a giggle.

"Sorry." she repeated. "It's just that-that happened to me, too, when I had my first berry ten years ago. I always kept getting my lip by mistake."

"Ten years ago? You still remember that?" Diego asked, impressed.

"Well, sort of. I didn't really think about it until now." She sniffed the air. "It's dry as blazes out here. You think there might be some water nearby? I'm getting thirsty."

"Yeah, same here." The strange thing was, he hadn't felt thirsty before. "I'll look over by this ledge, you go to the one over there."

"'Kay." she muttered, already setting off in that direction.

* * *

After about five minutes of searching, he heard Adrian call "Diego! You'd better come up here, I found something you might want to see."

"Water?" he yelled back as he bolted up the cliff. He saw her standing in between a small pool of water and a hole filled with dried mud.

"Yes, but look here." She gestured over to the mudhole, and he came closer to see what she was so excited about.

In the dried mud were four small paw prints. One pair was larger than the other.

"Tiger cubs." she confirmed. "We might not be the only ones here after all."

"But the mud's dry." he pointed out. "The impression couldn't have been made recently. Probably nine or ten years ago."

"Right, right." she dismissed. "Well, it still proves that-"

She stopped talking, but nothing cut her off. She just stared at the mud with a faraway look, as if trying to call back something she'd forgotten.

"What is it?" Diego asked. She blinked, and observed, in a quiet tone "Doesn't this all seem...familiar?"

"Uh, no."

"It does to me." She sighed. "You're gonna think I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure one of those sets of pawprints from ten years ago-they were mine."

"That's ridiculous. You've never been here before in your life." he argued.

"I'm sure I have. I remember being here." She walked over to the water. "There was an apple blossom tree right here. Flowers were falling into the pond. It was the only tree around for miles, this place even then could hardly grow anything."

Suddenly, Diego saw the tree. Literally. As if by her words, it had magically risen out of the ground. _Either Adrian's a gifted storyteller or I'm going crazy. _

"Adrian, what-?" he started.

"It must be the cliffs. The hedgehog did say it would bring back memories." She shook her head, staring at the tree as well. "I must sound like a lunatic to you, don't I?"

"No, it's just...I can see it, too. The tree."

"Really?" She gasped. "Diego, what if the other set of prints were-"

But as if she had plunged into a frigid lake, a wave of the memory swept over Adrian, striking her dumb as she watched years unfold before her eyes.

* * *

The three sabers walked cautiously. Or rather, two. The little cub was riding on her mother's back. She yawned as they stopped in their tracks.

"Huh? Whuzzagionon?" she mumbled. "Where are we?"

"There's been a change of plans, Adrian. Your father wants us to go this way instead of through the forest."

"But why?" Little Adrian looked around. "It's nothing but a huge, abandoned gorge."

"Beyond it, there might be some food and shelter. Maybe even a permanent home." Lydia explained.

"At least until we have to back to the Inashi again." Johan reminded her.

"Of course, Johan. I forgot."

"But it's all dark and gloomy. I don't like it." Adrian shuddered. "Can't we go back? This place gives me the creeps."

"Your opinion isn't what matters here." Johan snapped, bounding down into the gorge. Lydia picked Adrian off her back, and put her gently on the ground.

"We might as well go." Lydia urged her forward. Still groggy, Adrian followed her mother and father.

"Might as well." she echoed, thinking she would rather be clawed apart by her Packmates than have to go through this monster of a trek.

* * *

Reaching some dry cliffy area, Adrian sniffed around. "Something's wrong with the air. It smells funny." she observed.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Keep moving." Johan ordered.

"Mother, don't you smell it?" she asked, at least hoping her mom would be on her side.

"I certainly smell something, but your father's right. We need to keep going." she whispered. Adrian sighed deafeatedly, and ran closer to her mother.

After a while, they heard scuffled sounds coming from up ahead.

"Did you hear that?" Lydia asked her mate.

"Probably a squirrel." he dismissed. The noise grew louder.

"Father, I think there's someone there-"

Quick as flash, five sabers jumped out from behind the ledges, surrounding the family. Johan stood his ground, prepared for an attack.

"Didn't I tell him?" Adrian hissed at her mother, angry at her father for not taking her seriously. "The funny smell was from another Pack!"

"That's been established, Adrian. But please, ssh." Lydia cut off worriedly, hiding Adrian under her stomach.

A tan male with a scarred muzzle and ears stepped forward, eyeing them narrowly. "Who are you?" he demanded. "And what are your reasons for crossing into our territory?"

"We were not aware that this place was claimed by any Pack." Johan replied icily.

"It's ours for now. You still haven't answered my question, who are you? Migrants? We especcialy don't permit migrants here."

"Not in the slightest." Johan growled. "We are of the Inashi Pack, in the southern hills. I am Johan. This is my mate Lydia, and our cub Adrian."

"Inashi. We've heard of those sabers," a young male piped up angrily. "Always slinking and cowering behind their title."

"Silence, Soto." snapped the leader. Then turning his attention back on Johan, he added "Inashi. Well, then come back to our camp. We'll work something out." He smiled dangerously, as did the other sabers surrounding them.

"How do we know you won't kill us if we come with you?" Adrian pointed out. The other sabers laughed, and Johan glared at Adrian. "You keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you." he hissed.

"No need to reprimand, Johan of the Inashi." the leader cut in. "The child is smart to come up with such a theory herself. But not smart enough to remember that, if we wanted to kill you, we could have already, without you stirring a single whisker." He scraped his claws against the ground, and Adrian winced. He laughed again sadistically.

"Come." he encouraged. Johan took a step froward, the other sabers following him in some odd procession. "And leave the child." the leader orderred Lydia. "She'll only get in the way."

* * *

A/N: Wow, I went from being lazy to updating once a day! Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter! There's plenty more a-comin'! Review, please! Did I use enough exclamation points yet!

A/N: Also, new pictures updated to my website (link on profile). Check it out!


	11. Adrian's Memory: The GreenEyed Cub

"'Only get in the way…', oh, please," Adrian grumbled, kicking at the dirt. Being forced to wait for your parents wasn't fun. Especially when the sabers they were talking with could tear them limb from limb.

"Why can't I come? I'm as smart as any of them! Maybe smarter!" she said to herself. It sounded airheaded of her to say so, but she knew she was right.

She heard a faint bubbling noise, and turning her thoughts back to earth, she realized her feet were struck in a large mudhole.

"Yeah," She shook her head angrily. "If I **was** that smart, I wouldn't keep getting into these situations." She tried to lift her leg out of the mud, but there was a slight problem. It wouldn't move. She tried the other one. Same deal.

_Oh, brother._she mentally groaned, and tried to squirm out of the mud. "Ummph!" she moaned, biting her lip in frustration. "Great Saber forbid, I stay in here forever!"

"What?"

Her feet were so stuck, she couldn't even turn to see the cub that she heard approaching. Judging by its voice, it was a male. And he wasn't older than her by much.

"Who are you?" she asked, still trying to get out.

"You got stuck in a mudpile?" The boy disregarded her question, instead firing one of his own that was borderline incredulity.

"Obviously." she growled, trying and failing to lift her leg for a seventh time.

"The cubs in our pack know better than to wander near those." the boy stated simply.

"Good for you." Adrian wouldn't normally have been so snappish to the cub, but she was in a sticky spot. "Can you help me out of here?" she asked.

"Why?"

She sighed. "Because it'd be a very helpful thing to do."

"Sabers look out for themselves. If someone goes down, they stay down, as far as we're concerned." She still couldn't see him, but she could picture him shaking his head no.

"Fine, don't help me. I'll get myself out." She stopped struggling, and started to try and come up with a plan. With not much resources around, it was going to be tough.

"What did you say? About the…Great Saber? Was that what it was?" the boy mentioned.

"**What**?! You don't know who the Great Saber is?"

"Uh, no."

She rolled her eyes. "Jeez. All right, fine, I'll tell you. The Great Saber is an all-knowing female saber in the stars who watches over the good of heart. Like me and my mom."

"Sounds believable. My brother Soto wouldn't like it, though. He'd say that women were too inferior to be in the stars. Or watching over anyone."

"He and my dad would have a ball, then." she replied, laughing dryly. "Wait, Soto? He was that saber who didn't like the Inashi."

"Yeah, I know. I was watching you and your family when they ambushed you. But you probably didn't see me, right?"

"Not that I know of."

"Good." he said proudly. "I've been working on stealth for the past few days, watching my brother and the other sabers train." He paused for a minute. "That was my dad, the one who talked to you and your family."

"Oh, really? That must be cool, you being the pack leader's son." she observed.

"Eh, kinda. It's Soto who gets all the perks. He's older than me, which means he'll be leader when my dad can't be anymore. No one really pays much attention to me."

She heard the boy's footsteps go by the small apple blossom tree as he paced, lost in thought.

"I mean, I get the same rights as all the other cubs, but that's it. I don't get treated special or anything, like Soto does." he continued. "And it's really sickening getting shuffled to the side day after day."

His claws touched the trunk of the tree, and suddenly, Adrian had an idea.

"Hey!"

Her cry was so abrupt it startled him. "What?"

"Grab the branch! The one closest to the mud!"

"Why should I?" he demanded. "I've told you all my troubles, and you didn't share anything about your life with me. I don't even know your name."

"Well, if you stretch the branch over towards me, I'll be able to get out," Adrian explained. "And then, we can introduce ourselves properly, and talk until my parents come back from meeting with your dad."

"But my dad said sabers don't help those who fall-" he repeated.

"Listen! There's this thing the Inashi do. You know, the **title-crazy**Inashi your brother hates. It's called **teamwork**. When a friend is in danger, they help each other. Because they're **friends**. Okay?"

"Friends? But I don't know who you are at all. How could we be friends?"

"Fine. We're acquaintances, then."

"What's an acquaintance?"

"It's between stranger and friend. Now can you please help me?!"

The boy seemed to consider it. "All right, fine." He lowered the branch. "Can you see it yet?"

"No. A little farther."

She heard the branch creak. "This good? I've already got my paws in the mud, too. Any more, and **I'll** be the one stuck." he stressed.

"It's as good as it'll get, I suppose." She spread out her claws, trying to dig one into the rough bark.

Finally…

"I got it! Let it go!"

The boy's paw lifted off the branch, and the branch lifted Adrian out of the mud. She fell down to the ground, her joints aching. But at least she was free.

"Whew! I'm definitely going to need to wash myself off after this." Adrian laughed, looking at her muddy feet. "But at least it's good to be-"

She looked up, and saw the boy.

* * *

When she was a little cub (about six or seven years old), she had asked her mother once "Mother? Why did you become Father's mate?" She had no idea what **mate **exactly meant at the time, but she knew it involved two people joining forever.

"That's a very good question, sweetheart. And it's got a good answer to go along with it."

Adrian giggled, she always had liked to hear her mother's stories.

"Well, when I was a young female," Lydia started "about 18 or 19, I was grouped with all the other females who were eligable for mates. I was much more quiet and shy than the other females, and I was in no way at all interested in finding a mate that season."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't in love with any of the males."

"Does that matter?" Adrian had asked the question because she had been too young to know.

"Oh, darling, it matters _completely_! If you don't love your mate, then you might as well not be together at all, because there won't be any happiness in your life." Lydia explained.

"Oh. I see. Go on." Adrian sat still, wanting to hear the rest.

"Anyway, all the other females were making a fuss over a male name Johan, who they were all hoping would be their mate-"

"That was Father, right?"

"Yes. They said he was one of the handsomest sabers in the tribe, with fur the color of the summer sun and eyes that sparkled like the twilit sky. They said he was the fastest runner, the swiftest hunter, and the best choice out of all the young males. I hadn't seen your father with my own eyes, so I decided not to believe them.

"One day, I was out hunting an antelope outside the Pack borders, with no one else around but me-or so I thought. I was nearly about to get the buck, when another saber jumped over my head and got it first..."

"It was Father, wasn't it?" Adrian guessed, beaming.

Lydia smiled back. "You're too smart for me. But please, let me finish."

"Sorry. I'll listen. Honest."

"Right. So, yes, it was your father who got thebuck. And I wasn't too mad about it. I was too dazzled to be angry." Lydia sighed.

"Dazzled? What do you mean?"

"He wasn't exactly how the girls had described him. Sure, his eyes and fur were as beautiful as they claimed, but I wasn't focusing on his beauty when I fell in love with him. I was focusing on him. His aura. He radiated a fierce, strong, proud aura that told me he would defend what he cared for to the death. That was why I fell in love with him, sweetheart. Because of who he was. What I saw him to be _inside_. He offered to share the buck with me, and that afternoon, he asked me to be his mate. Which I happily accepted."

Adrian giggled again. "'Dazzled?'" she repeated. "I know you can't be talking about my father."

Lydia shook her head. "Someday, when you fall in love for the first time, you'll know."

And **not** for the first time, her mother had been right.

* * *

The boy's fur was a darker shade of gold than hers, but shone with a sunlit radiance that was unmatched by any other saber she'd ever seen. His eyes were moss-green, and reminded her of all the dewy grass, all the amazingly colorful flowers, and all the tall evergreen trees she loved to look at in forests. His limbs were lean and atletic, and his face looked like it was carved out of stone by the Great Saber herself. But most important was, like her mother had said, his _aura_. It showed him to be strong-willed and courageous, and though he showed a tough exterior, he was a caring and sensitive person deep down inside.

"What _are_ you staring at? Are you going to tell me your name or not?"

The boy's demanding tone broke her out of her stupor. "Oh, s-sorry." she stuttered. "It's just-well, you-I...I'm A-A-Adrian."

"A-A-Adrian?" he regarded with confusion.

"Sorry." she repeated. "It's just Adrian."

"Oh." He didn't seem to react much. "That's an odd name."

Her heart seemed to fall from her chest to her knees. "Is it?" she asked, dropping her voice sadly.

"Well, no, not odd. Just different." the boy corrected. "I just meant, I haven't heard that name before."

"And who are you?"

"I'm Diego."

"I haven't heard that name before, either. But I like it."

"Now what were you staring at?" he asked again, his eyes narrowing into hers. His beautiful mossy eyes...

"You." The word came out before she could stop herself, and she clamped a paw over her mouth. The boy seemed surprised as well. "Why?"

"Uh, because...uh...your eyes are pretty."

She clamped her other paw over her mouth as well, and in doing so, fell forward onto her face. _You idiot!_ she reprimanded herself.

"They're **what**?"

_Might as well say **something**, or I'll look even more stupid._ she thought. "They remind me of the forest. You know, all the green trees and plants. They're nice." she said aloud, praying he wouldn't run away. But he didn't. He just stood there, at a loss for words.

"You said **pretty**, though. You didn't say **nice**." he pointed out.

"Well, they're more or less the same thing." she countered nervously. He blinked soundly, and didn't answer.

"What's the matter? You act as though you've never gotten a compliment before." she told him.

"Uh...what's a compliment?"

She rolled her eyes. Even if he was near-perfect, this Diego was dreadfully ignorant. "It means something nice that someone says to you." she explained. "Like 'your fur is shiny', or 'you're a funny person', or 'your wonderfully green eyes shine like a beacon in the darkness leading to a paradise I'd want to stay in forever'...not that any of that strictly applies to you." she added, blushing. "Just random examples."

"Oh. Well, thanks." he said awkwardly. She hastily rubbed her paws on the ground.

"You know, you can always just wash off in the water over there." He pointed to the water pool. "I think I will, too. I've got mud caked all in between my toes."

"That makes for an interesting picture." she commented, laughing. Then, she jumped happily into the water, rubbing her muddy feet against the side of the pool.

The boy didn't come in until later, when her paws were clean. She plopped her paws up and down, sending waves of cool water over her hands. Then, she started splashing more and kicking with her feet, laughing more. That is, until she splashed Diego.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Sorry, I got carried away. Didn't mean to splash you." she apologized.

"What's splashing?"

"It's when you get water on your paws, and throw the water at someone next to you. It's a game. Then they have to splash you back."

"How do you win?"

"No one wins. It's for fun!" She splashed him again, this time on purpose. "Go ahead, you try it."

He dropped his claws in the water, as she had done, and pushed it towards her, drenching her fur.

"Nice!" she said, laughing. This time, he joined in, splashing her again and again, relishing in the new game. She splashed him back, too, but he didn't mind.

"I never have this much fun back at the Inashi pack." she said, moving to the left to avoid a splash. "No one there wants to play Splash with me. Or Hide-and Seek. Or Prey and Predator. In fact, no one plays with me at all."

"That's crummy. Why not?"

"Because whenever I'm on land, I'm always tripping over things, or falling, or getting stuck. They'd rather tease me about it than help me like you did. But in the water," she swirled her arms in the pool as she said this "I feel graceful and free. Weigthless. Limitless. Happy. I don't know how to swim, though, like other animals. No saber does, as far as I know."

"Cool. I never really was in the water much. And when I was, I didn't like it. It was all cold and it made my fur all damp. But I don't mind it here with you."

She blushed again, then, a strange sensation came over her. She wanted to move closer to Diego. She wanted to do...something. But what?

She turned to look over her shoulder as she saw her parents coming. "Oh, no, my parents! Father doesn't like me playing in water, and he'll be extra angry if he sees you. Quick, hide!"

The two cubs dashed out of the pool. Diego hid behind the tree, while Adrian tried in vain to dry herself off.

"Adrian, there you are! Come, we're leaving immediatly." her father ordered.

Her heart sank. "Leaving? Why?"

"The leader of this pack has forbade us to stay in his territory any longer. But if we leave now, he will send no brute force against us."

"What's 'forbade'? Does that mean we're going back to the forest?" Adrian asked.

"Yes. And maybe your father can show you how to hunt when we get there." Lydia encouraged, hoisting Adrian onto her back. "Won't that be exciting?"

"Yeah, sure." she dismissed. She'd rather stay there with Diego. His eyes were all the forest she needed. As they started to leave, she turned to look back at Diego, who was watching her from behing the tree.

"Bye." she whispered, waving a paw. He waved back.

"Will I see you again?" he mouthed to her. She nodded. "I'm betting on it. It's a small world." she replied.

* * *

Once they were farther out of the gorge, Lydia asked "Now, what did you do to pass the time?"

Dropping her voice to a whisper so her father wouldn't hear, she said "I met an acquaintance."

"Oh."

"A boy. His name's Diego. He's the leader's younger son. He's so nice, Mother. And he has the most amazing eyes. They're the color of the forest."

"Oh. Well, what did you two do?" A smile crept onto Lydia's lips.

"I got stuck in a mudpile, and he helped me out. Then we talked about our Packs and our lives, and then we washed off in the river. I taught him how to splash. And then..."

She paused for a moment, remembering the strange sensation. "What is it, dear?" Lydia whispered.

"I felt something. When I was in the pool and we were done splashing each other. I don't exactly know what it was. I just felt warm, but cold at the same time. It was my head that felt cold, I think. I wanted to get closer to him. I wanted to-"

She bit her lip, trying to analyze her thoughts. But there simply wasn't anything logical about it.

"-I think I wanted to kiss him, Mother." she finished, sounding a bit embarrassed.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that." Lydia laughed happily.

"There's plenty of things wrong with it, Lydia."

The two hadn't been watching to see whether Johan was listening.

"What's wrong with our cub being in love?" Lydia demanded.

"With a male not of our Pack!" he hissed. "It's not the way things are done. Besides, female cubs aren't supposed to feel anything for males until they're old enough to mate."

"But Father-" Adrian tried to cut in.

"And besides, from what I've heard from our daughter, he's behind on his training. He wouldn't make a very good mate for her, anyway."

Contrary to when she was six, Adrian knew what **mate** meant. "Eww! Dad-I mean, Father! I wasn't thinking about him like _that_, I just wanted to kiss him!"

Johan growled, not paying any attention to her. "All the same, Lydia, we'll be lucky if she does find a mate once she's of age."

"Johan!" Lydia reproached, scandalized.

"It's true. She can't hunt, can't go anywhere without tripping over her own two feet-"

"Now wait just a moment!" Lydia hissed, all timidity aside. "You can't just go saying things-!"

"-and she thinks too much. No one wants a mate who can't keep her mouth shut." Johan finished insultingly.

"-Johan, our daughter is perfectly-"

He turned around to face her. "I _said_," he repeated dangerously "_no one wants a mate who can't keep her mouth shut_. Right, Lydia?"

She gulped, and backing away a bit, she whispered "Yes, Johan."

"Good. Now's let go." He went back to walking again. Lydia started forward slowly.

"Father, does this mean I'll be able to meet with Diego again?" Adrian asked.

"The leader has disallowed us from being in his Pack's temporary territory. You'll probably never see that boy again." he answered uncaringly.

"_What_?"

"I'm sorry, dear," Lydia comforted. "But it can't be helped. It's better if you just forget about him."

* * *

A full moon was out. Johan and Lydia were asleep in a nearby cave, but Adrian was sobbing in a grassy field outside.

"Shut up." she lectured herself. "Stop crying, they'll hear you." But more tears flowed down her cheeks. She'd only met him today, but he was the nicest, most handsome boy saber she's ever met in her entire life.

"Ssh. Mother's right. You need to forget about him." she whispered to herself. She shut her eyes to stop the tears. "Who's Diego? You've never met him before in your life. You never splashed with him in a pool, or stared into his eyes, or wanted to-to-"

She coughed sourly, then cleared her throat and continued. "There is no Diego. You've never heard of him. In fact, you've never even been near that Pack. You've never been to those cliffs. You've never gone into that gorge. Just forget it. Forget all of it!"

Tears poured through her eyelids. "It'll be better for you. Just forget it all! It didn't happen! It-sniff-never happened..."

With all the grief gone out of her, she fell into a deep sleep. And indeed, had forgotten all of it.

* * *

With a start, Adrian opened her eyes widely. She looked at Diego. He returned her gaze. With those moss-green eyes she'd first stared into long ago.

"It's YOU!" they both yelled joyfully, smiling. Then they both started talking at once

"I can't believe it's you-!"

"After all these years-"

"-I knew something was wrong when I didn't see you again-"

"-and you, right in front of me this whole time!"

"-Where have you been?!"

They stopped, panting. Adrian, still overcome with excitement, scooped some water up in her claws. "Well," she gestured towards the small pool. "Drink up, acquaintance. You'll need it."

* * *

A/N: Gosh, it was even Adrian/Diego back then! I was really excited to write this chapter, not only was it about the history of Adrian and Diego, but a look back on Lydia and Johan's relationship, too. Review, please! Hope you like it!


	12. Reflections and an Annoying Sloth

A/N: Updates to Website Blog, check it out! It's kind of important. And by important, I mean to me. But still…my Birthday coming up this month! AWESOME! (yes, I'm scary when excited)

Probably won't be too busy, it's on a weekend. Review, please! And visit the site if you can! I know it's short, but I wanted to cut to the Maze as soon as possible!

* * *

Midnight. The herd had gotten through the Cliffs by sundown, and Ellie had suggested they stop to camp for the night. Now, they were all asleep.

Except Diego.

_Should have seen it coming, _he thought. _It's always seemed like we've known each other for a lifetime, and now it's the truth. How could I have forgotten her so easily?_

He looked ahead, and watched Adrian's sleeping form. Once in a while, she dug her head further into the ground, breathing softly. He smiled, but a minute later shook his head.

"Cut it out." he lectured himself. "If Sid were awake right now, he'd say you were a stalker."

"Yeah, I probably would." Sid sat up, and rubbed the back of his head with his foot.

Growling, Diego stared at the ground. "What is it, Sid?"

"You're in L-O-V-E, Diego. Admit it."

"That's ridiculous." he snarled.

"Oh, really? You've had your eyes _glued_ to Adrian ever since you met her."

"No, I haven't. Name me one time." If there was one thing Diego hated, it was Sid being right. Especially about this.

"How about a few minutes ago?" Sid pointed out. "And when you two were jumping and yelling up in the Cliffs, I don't know what that was about."

"Turns out, we met each other as cubs, okay? Now go back to sleep." Diego turned over to one side, to better ignore the persistent sloth.

"Well, they say you never get over puppy love. Or, in your case, cub love."

"Now you're just being stupid."

"Oh, come on! Even a stupid person could see what was going on between you two. The way _you're_ always staring at her, and _she's_ always laughing at your jokes. Even if they aren't funny."

Diego had just about had it, but not wanting a public execution, he shut his eyes tightly, and said "Good night." gruffly.

"And she's always talking about you, too. To Ellie. I heard them earlier."

"Who's the stalker now?" Diego argued, eyes still shut.

"Just pieces to the puzzle." Sid defended.

"Well, tell if you want, I don't care." Diego lied.

"Anyway," Sid continued. "Ellie asked Adrian about her life before the forest burned down, and she said…" Sid cleared his throat, and quoted, in a much higher pitch "Well, it wasn't all too exciting, but I wouldn't have traded those years with my beaver family for anything in the world. It didn't matter whether we were different species or not, we were all family. And we all loved each other."

Diego grunted. That sounded like Adrian, even if Sid's voice didn't.

"And then, she added 'It was really peaceful, too. Just the mountains and the water. No saber besides me lived in that forest for ten years. Or so I thought. That was before I met Diego, anyway.

"When I first met him, I thought he was going to eat my little sister.' And then, Ellie said 'He wouldn't, Diego doesn't hunt children'. And then, Adrian said 'I know that now. But I didn't know then, at least not until later. My mother always said eyes were the windows to the soul-"

"Get on with it, will ya?" Diego complained.

"I thought you didn't care?" Sid questioned.

"I don't. But I don't want to listen to your jabber all night. Cut to the end."

"Okay, okay. 'She said eyes were the windows to the soul, so I stared into his, to see if he was the kind that ate kids. And they didn't show that at all. They were just…this great shade of mossy-green that just reminded me of everything I loved about the forest. Every blade of fresh grass. Every good leaf on a tree. I knew he was telling the truth. And even now, when the forest is burned to the ground, and my family gone, I look into them. And they remind me that a part of my life hasn't vanished. Not completely. All those good, happy days…they're in him.'"

Even the first few sentences were enough to shatter Diego's defenses. "She said that? About me?"

"So you do care!" Sid laughed triumphantly. "That proof enough for you, tiger?"

"Fine. I'll admit it, okay?" Diego smiled, although he tried not to let it show. "But don't ever use that voice again. It's almost worse than your real one."

Sid shrugged, and added "As long as I'm right." before going back to sleep.


	13. The Speculations of a Stressed Saber

A/N: Okay, knew I've been putting this off for a long time, but there were a lot of revisons I did for this chapter. I didn't want it to be all 'they walked through the marsh. The marsh was spooky. Something screamed.' because that's just boring!

But I did have to have something to keep the story interesting. So I started thinking. One of the things that popped into my head was 'what's Adrian's big flaw?'. Then, I remembered when she'd said in her memory from Chapter 11 "why can't I come? I'm as smart as any of them! Maybe smarter!" And, I figured since she lost her beaver family in the forest fire, she'd be extra protective of the herd. But then I thought: what if she was so stressed from this whole gosh darn thing that she crossed the line to overprotective, overbearing, bossy, or feeling like she had to do _everything_? Certainly that plus the maze would be a hard situation to get her out of.

Anyways, review, please! And I added some new photos up on my website, so check it out if you want to!

* * *

Come morning, they were at the marshes, ready to take on the second challenge. Thick, putrid mist covered the land, and the swampy ground seemed designed to keep them more on their toes, lest they sunk even furthur into the muck. But most prominent about the Maze of Confusion was a certain feel in the air, a sense of doom. Whether it was present because of their anxiety or not, they could not tell. One thing was for sure, though; once they stepped forward, it was unlikely they would ever come out again.

Adrian gulped solemnly. She was terrified by the potential danger, more than any of the herd, she guessed. "_It uses hallucinations and fog to trap its victims. Most never come out again." _she remembered the grumpy hedgehog saying to her. The thought made part of her want to turn back more than ever.

But she had to be strong. For all of them.

Ever since the journey had started, she'd felt the weights of leadership on her shoulders. And if there was one good thing she'd learned from her father, hateful to her as he had been, it was that real leaders were strong. Tough. They didn't let their feelings rule them. They showed a tenacity and bravery that brought hope to others, kept them going in times of peril. Not that her father had ever been a leader, or brought hope to anyone, she remembered darkly. But, nevertheless, she had to be a leader for them. Whether she wanted to or not.

"Okay, guys." she called back to the others over her shoulder, still staring into the mist. "We know the hedgehog talked about hallucinations trying to lead us off course. So, as long as we stick together, we'll be okay."

"Easier said than done."

She sighed. Diego did have a point.

"Look-" she turned to face him. "-I don't know exactly what this Great-Saber-forsaken swamp is going to unleash on us. But I didn't come this far to give up."

"None of us did. All I'm saying is, if one only guy made it through, we'll need a better strategy than 'just stick together'." Diego voiced.

"It's the only one we have. That and keeping our eyes peeled." She looked at the others. "Don't wander off." she warned them. Then, she started off into the Maze. As the rest of the herd followed, Diego muttered "We can't rely on our eyes for long in that place."

* * *

It wasn't as bad as they expected. It was much, much worse.

The mist quickly turned to thick fog, nearly blinding them. They could barely see their feet in front of them, let alone each other. Once in a while, loud screams or animal cries would sound out from farther away, making some of them jump.

"Just ignore it. Come on." Adrian would command, shuffling forward cautiously.

"How long have we been in here?" Crash asked, after a long while.

"I don't know. But there doesn't seem to be any way out yet." Manny looked around, and as another yell penetrated the air, little Peaches hid under her mother.

"Mommy. I skeered." she whispered, sniffling. Ellie patted her small head with her trunk.

"It's okay, sweetheart. It'll be okay." she comforted.

"How _do_ we get out of here?" Eddie asked.

"Just keeping walking north. This maze can't go on forever." Diego advised.

* * *

Adrian was sure it had been over an hour, yet it felt like they'd hardly moved at all.

"How long have we been-?" Crash started to asked for the hundreth time.

"Ssh." Diego hissed, looking at the ground curiously. "Be quiet."

"Why? You see a way out?"

"No. But I see tracks here."

"Tracks!" Adrian ran up to them. "Oh, thank goodness! Maybe someone else found a way out! Can you get their scent?"

"Don't need to." Diego put his own paw in one of the imprints. It was a perfect match. "They're ours."

"You mean we've been going in circles this whole time?" Ellie gasped.

"Yep." Diego grumbled, his eyes narrowing.

"There's-there's got to be a trick to this. Maybe it won't let us out until we've figured out some sort of puzzle." Adrian hastily deduced. What if they could never get out?

"We're already in a puzzle. Heck with **puzzle**, it's a crisis!" Diego snapped hotly.

"You don't have to yell at me." she replied icily. "I'm just trying to figure a way out, that's all."

"Yeah, and that's working like a charm."

His unexpected sarcasm stung her. "Well, it's more than what you're doing." she snarled.

"Oh? And what am I doing?"

"Mostly just disagreeing with everything I say."

"Maybe because I'm entitled, too, considering our situation."

"You're acting like this is all my fault!"

"Guys!" Peaches wiggled out from under her mother. "No! Bad place! It make you aingy. No speak loud!"

Ellie pulled her back towards her. "She's right, you two." she pleaded. "Don't you see what this place is doing to us? All this tension could make the best of friends start tearing out each other's throats. Now calm down. We need to find a way out."

"All right, then." Adrian agreed, trying to calm herself down. Now was not the time for arguments.

"Well, let's keep moving." Ellie ushered.

"Yeah, but which way?" Eddie asked, confused.

"North still." Adrian stated, while at the same time, Diego had called out "West." They glared at each other.

"What do you mean, west? All trackers know that when in doubt, you always go north." she argued. Knowing full well she'd never tracked anything in her life. And so did the rest of the herd.

"West it is." Diego said, tuning her out as he started walking to the left. Figuring it couldn't hurt, the others followed.

Adrian followed at the rear, scowling. Diego didn't have any right to yell at her. She was just trying to help, she thought. He was just mad that she came up with a good idea and he didn't. He was just jealous...

_Shut up!_ another voiced yelled at the back of her head. _Don't you know how pea-brained you sound right now? Ellie's right, you shouldn't be fighting. He's as much a member of the herd as you are. _

"Well, he shouldn't just discount whatever suggestion I come up with. They're perfectly good ideas, too." she muttered to herself. "It's not like I did anything to him."

_Except act like a total know-it-all priss._

"I am not...!" Adrian started to say, but cut herself short. If she was to the point were she was arguing with herself-and losing-she needed to get an attitude check, and fast.

"Oh, this is stupid!" she grumbled. "I wish Hazel were here. She's much better at resolving these things than I am."

Then, a strange wave of quiet swept over the land. There were no screams, no cries. Which was good, of course, but she couldn't hear anything else. Then, she saw a figure running forward to her from in the distance. She heard a small, yet familiar cry.

"Adrian!" yelled Hazel, coming out from the mist to greet her. The bottom dropped out of Adrian's stomach. Hazel, here? She was still alive! But for some reason, she didn't look surprised to see her.

"Oh, Hazel! You're okay!" Adrian cried out. She ran to embrace her. But Hazel backed away.

"We'll get to hugging later, 'kay?"

Adrian raised an eyebrow. Hazel wasn't sounding like herself.

"Something's happened." Now suddenly, tears began to all from Hazel's eyes. "We need your help."

"What-we? What's happened to our sisters? Are they okay?"

"Yes. Well-except for Hildy. She's hurt. Bad. We need to get to her, pronto."

Adrian turned around, and realized, with a jolt, that the herd was no longer behind her. "Okay, I'll go get my friends, they're up a little ways, and then we can all-"

"No!" Hazel yelled firmly. "There's no time! Don't you understand? She's **dying**, Adrian!"

Dying? Adrian found it difficult to swallow. "Well-"

"We need to go to her. Now, before it's too late." Hazel insisted. "You wouldn't want your sister to die, would you? Our little sis, Hildy? You know her, she's always been sickly. She won't last for much longer if we don't hurry."

Adrian sighed sadly. Hildy, the youngest of the beaver sisters, had been mute since birth. There had been a problem during her birth, and her vocal chords and immune system hadn't developed properly. If it was as bad as Hazel said, it was lucky she wasn't dead already...or was she? She didn't want to seperate herself from the herd, but if Hildy needed her, that was a different matter.

"Okay, let's go. Where is she?" she asked. Hazel immediately took off into the mist, Adrian following her.


	14. The Marsh Spirit and More Mirages

Following Hazel furthur into the marsh, Adrian's breath came in sharp gasps. What if they couldn't get to Hildy in time? What if she was already-

She shook her head. No, she couldn't bear to think of that. She just had to run, and hope whatever Hildy had wasn't fatal.

"Here, this way!" Hazel shouted, turning swiftly. "Not much farther now!"

Adrian was sure her hearing was getting worse, because it almost sounded like Hazel was laughing as she said this.

"You sure? We've been running for a long time!" Adrian panted, her paws starting to hurt.

"I'm positive!"

Then, Hazel stopped suddenly. Adrian drew to a halt behind her.

"Wha-Hazel, I don't see Hildy anywhere. Why are we stopping?" Adrian asked, looking around. Hazel turned her head away and didn't answer.

"Hazel?"

No reply.

Adrian growled. "Hazel! What in the Great Saber's name is wrong with you? We need to get to Hildy, remember? She's dying, remember?"

Hazel flicked her head quickly, as if shooing away a fly.

"Come ON!"

Adrian reached out to grab Hazel. But shocking, her paw passed right through Hazel's shoulder. As if it wasn't there at all...

Now, Hazel turned around. Her eyes were transparent, and Adrian could see the marshlands through them.

"Y-Y-you're not...you're..."

The Mirage-Hazel laughed. "You think you're such the survivor." it said. "You think you're **so** smart. Well, get a reality check, flintface. You don't know nothin' here." She laughed again evilly. "I mean, I've fooled people back in the days, but **man**, you were just too easy. You're too trusting, too naiive. That's the problem."

Adrian was still trying to comprehend all this. "You're...who are you?" she asked.

The mirage rolled its eyes. "Whatever I want to be, dunderhead. Whoever I want to be, so long as there's empty, frightened minds to torture. This is my kingdom, my home."

"You're a spirit of the Marsh?"

"That's what I just said, ice-for-brains."

"But-but...where am I now? Why did you do this?"

"'Cause I can. Duh."

Adrian shook her head. This went against all she knew. "What about my herd? What about my sisters? What have you done to them?"

Mirage-Hazel growled. "Your sisters? They made it out okay, unfortunatly. I did manage to plague one of them-Harriet I think-with images of her mother. I would've had her in my trap like you, but that stupid _Phineas_ had to go and save her."

"What-you mean Phineas the beaver? The only one that made it through the Labyrinth alive?"

"That's right." it spat. "And now he's helping your sisters get through."

Even in the peril she was in, Adrian was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Even if their was danger in the Blizzard Country, Hazel and the others, at least, had made it that far.

"And for your herd-well, I haven't done anything bad to them. Yet. They're just seeing things, nothing that'll get 'em lost." it continued. "But they've got a lot of fear in their minds. It'll be easy to trap them now."

Adrian narrowed her eyes at the marsh-spirit, her claws digging into the muck. "You're a monster." she snarled.

"I wouldn't be insulting anybody if I were you. Didn't you notice, wetwipe, that you and your pals can't get out of here?"

"Watch me." Adrian ran off into the mist, away from the spirit. She felt a gust of air from behind her.

"You can run, but you can't hide!" yelled the spirit, its voice echoing all around. "As long as you're in my land, you're my prisoner. Try to escape all you want-"

The ground shifted under Adrian's feet, making her skid to a stop in the mud.

"-but it's all in vain." it finished.

Adrian picked herself back up. "I'm not giving up!" she challenged.

"Oh, I can see that. You're lucky I'm not the killing sort. I'll just sit back and watch you struggle." It gave a loud laugh.

"Well, Phineas and my sisters made it out, didn't they? There's got to be some trick to this, I'll figure it out soon enough." Adrian muttered, squinting. Maybe if she really concentrated on the mist or something...

"There is a way out, but I'm not-gonna-tell-you." it mocked in a sing-songy voice. "Besides, fifty more minutes in this place and your mind will be all but gone, sister."

"Not if I can help it!" But part of Adrian knew it was hopeless. No matter what she tried, she was still stuck.

"Face it," the spirit boomed. "You're a puppet. And I'm holding the strings. There's no way you'll get out of here alive. And neither will your friends, if I can help it."

* * *

"Guys, maybe we should've gone the other way." Eddie piped up. The herd had stopped now, seeing as it didn't matter. They weren't really moving anywhere.

"Any way we go, it's not going to make much of a difference. We're stuck." Manny grumbled.

"Come on, it's not so bad." Crash argued.

"_Not so bad_?" Manny and Diego repeated unbelievably.

"Well, yeah. I mean there's the spooky laughing and screaming, and the fact that we can't get out." Crash agreed. "But the hallucinations...I mean, all of mine were of this blonde possum girl." He elbowed Eddie. "She was _hot_, too..."

"Crash!" Ellie reproached. "Focus! We need to think of how to get out."

"What? A guy can't dream?"

Ellie sighed exasperatedly. "Guys, we know walking hasn't been getting us anywhere. There is some sort of trick to getting out, we just need to find it."

"Like what?" Sid demanded.

"Um..." Ellie tapped her forehead with her trunk, trying to think. "Well, there's...um..."

"Us!" Peaches cried out, coming out from under Ellie.

"'Us?' What do you mean, sweetie?" Ellie asked.

"Evy-thing all spooky an scary, but we no in dinjer yet, cause we stay together. We wuv each other, an that why we safe." Peaches speculated. "So...we think of something we wuv, an maybe den we get out."

"Peaches, you're a little genius." Ellie said happily, rubbing her daughter's head. "All right, let's give it a shot."

* * *

A/N: In order to save space, the Maze of Confusion thing is probably going to take up three chapters (counting this and the one before it) Don't worry, this isn't going to be a bjillion chapters long like The Arabian Nights. I'll get it over and done with soon. Sorry for making you wait!


	15. Shades to the Rescue

A/N: Sorry I deleted this chapter at first, but there was a problem with the editing on the website, and it deleted half of the chapter (yikes!) so I had to take it down temporarily and revise it. Then, I tried to upload it three more times, and it wouldn't let other people see it. So I'm really pissed off at my computer now, and I hope this works.

* * *

Manny, along with the rest of the herd, shut his eyes. But doubtfully. He trusted his daughter, but after all they had been through, the suggestion 'think of what we love and we'll make it out alive and well' sounded a bit naive.

But then again, what else could they do? They were stuck in the middle of a foggy swamp, with no way out, and they were growing more insane and panicky by the minute. Even as he thought this, he heard a manic screech that came from another hallucination nearby.

_Some hero I am_ he thought bitterly. _I can't even brave against things in my head, let alone protect my family. _He squinted one eye open to see Ellie flinch and wrap her trunk tighter around Peaches as yet another scream was heard. _Ellie...and Peaches. I can't protect them here. This is just like-just like when the hunters attacked _he thought painfully. _I can't save them, the same way I couldn't save-couldn't save-_

In alarm, he and the rest of the herd suddenly opened their eyes. Not because of the screaming, but because it had died down, replaced by a loud buzzing sound. If anything, it was almost as bad.

"Oh, great, now we're having mirages about bugs." Eddie grumbled, his hands over his ears.

"Wook!" Peaches shouted, making them all jump. She was looking behind them, with her trunk pointed at a spot where the fog began to get more concentrated. Soon, it began to take on silhouette forms of two creatures, one larger, one smaller.

"What's going on?" Crash questioned, hiding behind Ellie as the shapes began to glow and materialize. Then, the dust cleared. Manny gasped, though none of the others paid attention.

Regina and Shaun watched the frightened bunch calmly, as if it were only natural two long-dead mammoths should appear out of nowhere. The bright glow around them made the almost look like-**ghosts**.

But were they? Or just more fake images the marsh had conjured?

"Don't be afraid." said Regina...if it was Regina. "We won't hurt you. We want to help."

"G-Gina? Is that y-you?" Manny managed to stutter, looking at her. She smiled at him, but that didn't answer his question.

"Come on, guys! The way out's over there!" Shaun pointed off into the distance with his trunk. "Not too far!" He started bounding off in the same direction.

The rest of the herd turned to Manny. "Wait...you know her?" Crash asked. Manny's eyes darted nervously around, until they met Diego's. One look told his friend all he needed to know.

"It doesn't matter. Right now we need to follow them." he cut off.

"But how do we know-" Sid started.

"We don't." Manny answered for him. "But we were going nowhere in a hurry before, it's not going to make a difference now. Let's go."

"Good."

They all jumped again, having forgotten Regina was still there. She smiled again. "Follow me, please. It's not too far from here, thank goodness."

As the adults shuffled cautiously behind Regina, Peaches ran froward to keep pace with Shaun.

"Hi." she greeted, not finding it odd at all to be talking to him. "My name Peaches. What yours?"

* * *

After ten minutes, they saw and felt grass beneath their feet. After five more minutes, they were in a grassy plain, with the third challenge (the tall glaciers and rocky terrain) ins ight ahead of them. They were out, they were free!

"Yahoo!" Sid yelled with relief, and began kissing the ground. Crash and Eddie did a whole high-five dance, while Peaches and Shaun skipped through the grass happily.

"Shaun!" Regina called out. "Come back to Momma, we need to go now."

"Aww." he moaned sadly, then turned to Peaches. "Sorry, I have to go."

"Wiw I see you again?" Peaches asked.

"Not in a long time. But until then, goodbye, Sis." He ran over to his mother, leaving Peaches confused. "Sis?" she repeated.

"Thank you so much." Ellie exulted, getting up the courage to say something to her. "But please tell us, are...um, were you real? Or just in our heads?

"That's for you to suppose, and me to know." Regina said mystically. "And Ellie, it is I who should really be thanking **you**."

She then turned to Manny, who, out of shock, had not been able to say a word.

"Manny, there's so much more I wish I could say to you. You've been so brave. But I must go now. I've done all I can for you here. Just remember to focus less on me, and more on the present; so you can have a better future."

She brushed a stray hair off his forehead with her trunk. "Farewell, Manfred. I love you." she said with finality as she and Shaun began to dissipate. Then, they were gone. Ellie gave him a confused look, but didn't say a word. In fact, no one said anything, except when Diego choked out suddenly "She's gone."

"Well, yeah, we all just saw-" Crash replied matter-of-factly.

"No!" He whirled around, a strange look of panic on his face. "Adrian's gone, she's not with us! Maybe she wasn't with us this whole time and we didn't notice."

"What?" Ellie yelped, searching around like she had with Peaches when she went missing. "You mean she's in the-the marsh still?"

Diego lept up and ran furiously back into the fog. Manny tried to run after him.

"No!" Ellie stepped in front of him. "Manny, it's too dangerous!"

"What if they both get lost? We can't just stand here and do nothing."

"There's nothing we **can**do." she reasoned. "Besides, Diego'll find her. He has to."

* * *

Blurs of swamp and muck raced by him. Before long, the screams came back, louder and more crazy than ever. But, green eyes blazing with fear, Diego paid it no heed. He didn't care that they'd argued before. He just needed to find her, and make sure she was safe.

"Adrian!" he kept yelling, just like he had when he searched for her after the fire. He heard a hyena cackle, it seemed to be mocking him.

"Adrian! Adrian! ADRI-oof!"

Smacking head-first into a tree, he went flying sideways, muck splattering all over his face as he landed. Spitting some out of his mouth and rubbing the worst of it out of his eyes, he yelled again "Adrian, where are you?" For some insane reason, the muck must have improved his hearing, because he heard a frightened scream coming from the left. But no, it had to be one of those screetching mirages again. That couldn't be Adrian-could it?

"Adrian?" he asked, picking himself up and walking in the sound's direction. He could make out a thin figure through the heavy fog. It was panting and twisting its head left and right nervously in the direction of the random yells.

"No, no, no..." It breathed out heavily, then it screamed again. "STOP IT!"

"Adrian!" he affirmed, relieved to have found her. "It's me!"

She turned to look at him, and the smile wiped off his face. Her dark brown eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets, her golden-colored fur a mess, almost white from fear, but with dark smudges from dirt and bruises.

"No, get away!" she yelled again, backing off. "I don't need more of this torment! You've had enough, please let me go!"

What had this place done to her? "Adrian, it's me. Diego, remember?" He reached out to her.

"Get out of my head!" A tear ran down her face. "Leave me alone, please! You've taken away my hope, my security, my sanity. What more do you want?"

"Adrian, what are you talking about? What happened to you?"

"You're not Diego. You're not Diego, or Hazel, or Annabeth, or Father, or Mother. You're just the marsh, trying to toy with my mind again, like you have been for the past week!"

"Week? Adrian, it's only been two hours. Listen, the herd's okay. We found a way to get out. We need to hurry, quickly!" He tried to grab her paw and lead her out, but she backed away again.

"Stop pretending. You think I can't see what you really are? Leave me alone, let me go..." She collapsed, sobbing on the ground.

A jolt of pain seized through him. She'd been tortured and tormented the worst of all of them. Only her indomitable strength could have made her hold out this long, and even that was beginning to wear out.

"Adrian..." he whispered, touching her paw gently. She gasped, and sat up, her face wide with surprise.

"You...you just...you can...oh, it IS you!"

She nearly jumped at him, her head landing on his shoulder as more tears fell down her face. But, she even sensing the startled atmosphere, picked herself up and rubbed at her reddened eyes.

"Why is it that whenever we're alone together, I end up crying?" she joked, trying to smile for him, even through her ordeal. He, too, tried to hide his embarrassment.

"Well, uh, I can live with it. Come on, let's get out of here."

"But how? It's impossible, I've been trying for nearly a week-well, two days, I guess." she corrected.

"Well, just concentrate on something."

"Something?"

"Something you care about." he defined. "I know, it sounds a little corny, but it works."

She did think it sounded corny, but she squeezed her eyes tightly and did it, anyway.

* * *

The first thing that popped into her mind was the forest. The broadleaf evergreen forest, smelling of trees and fresh water and new grass, with many different shades of green and a billion different animals, just the way it used to be. The one place where she'd felt truly happy, truly at home.

Then, she remembered swimming in the pool of water, that was by the beaver dam where she and her family lived. Swimming...as soon as she'd started it, she knew she loved it as much as the forest itself.

But the one thing, the strongest thing she cared about, was family. She could see them in her mind's eyes, all the beavers. Annabeth sitting on a tree stump with her twisted tail (she'd gotten into an accident as a young adult, and never was able to swim again after that), Hazel leaning on a maple tree and crossing her arms playfully, Helen and Harriet talking about the most popular tree branches to eat, and Hannah, Hailey, and Heather splashing each other in the pool. Hildy was trying to talk to Annabeth, signing away as fast as she could. Adrian smiled at them all, and wished she could go back to those days, before the fire.

But then, another picture jumped into their mind, of the herd, all sitting around a campfire Sid had managed to throw together. Manny and Ellie were talkign peacefully, Sid was making sure his tail didn't catch on fire, Crash and Eddie were arm-wrestling, and Peaches was trying to make shadow puppets with her trunk, making everyone laugh at her cuteness.

Family. They'd treated her like one of them. They'd taken her in, like the beavers had-

"Adrian."

The sound of Diego calling her name made her open her eyes. "What is it?" she asked. But he wasn't looking at her, he was staring intently at something in front of them. Turning her head to see as well, she was caught by surprise.

* * *

Two cubs stood in front of them, a brother and sister. Twins, about ten years old. Yet they were as different as any two siblings could be.

The girl regarded Adrian and Diego with a cautious eye, and her head was raised almost-haugtily. One of her eyebrow was raised, in a way so reminiscent of Diego that puzzled the pair even furthur. She had bright golden fur, and blue eyes the color of the ocean that showed she had a rationalized way about thinking.

The boy, on the other hand, was grinning at them, and he had Diego 's crooked smile. His fur and eyes were the same as his sister's, except his eyes shone with a crafy, cunning, but good-tempered light that made them think he would have gotten along well with Crash and Eddie. Curiously, his left eye was glazed over by a coat of film. His hair was very long in the front, so he had tied it back with a palm leaf (only Diego knew what it was), and he leaned to one side lazily, as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Who are they?" Diego mumbled to Adrian.

"I don't know. I didn't think of them. Did you?"

"Well, one of us had to, they couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere. What **did** you think of?"

"My family and the forest, what el-"

"HEY!" the girl shouted at them, catching them off guard. "Are you just going to stand there and whisper about us, or are we gonna get moving?"

"Easy, sister, simmer down." The boy chuckled at her outburst, then said aside to Diego and Adrian "Don't mind her; her bark is worse than her bite."

She threw him a dirty look, but said no more.

"Who...are you?" Adrian asked.

"Visions of things to come." the girl answered unhelpfully. "In a sense."

"Like from the future?" Diego translated.

"In a sense." the girl emphasized. "My brother and I are pan-dimensional shades, servants of the Great Saber herself, to help travelers through this marsh whenever we are summoned. Of course, we're not summoned directly, but we take the form and mannerisms of whatever was summoned-"

"Oh brother." the boy grumbled, shaking his head.

"So, as you would put it." she finished. "We are 'from the future', although time itself is no limitation to us. We're just here to help people through the marsh. Speaking of which, come along." She started to walk off.

"Wait a minute." Adrian stopped her. "How do we know you're not the Marsh-spirit in disguise again?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "That dopey Marsh-Demon? We'd never even talk to that big bully, let alone **be** it. All it does is try to mess with people's minds until they go insane. It's a monster."

"No kidding." Adrian shivered.

"Oh, poor dear." the girl said sympathetically. "We know what you've been through. But don't worry, you two'll be out soon enough."

"But can't you give us some proof or something?" Adrian reasoned. The boy sighed. "She's too like you, Sis, always trying to analyze before she takes a breath." he muttered, annoyed. "All right, here." He touched Diego's paw, and the girl did the same for Adrian. "Will that do?" Without waiting for an answer, he began walking north. "Let's go, Ivanhoes! It's only a couple miles this way!" he called back behind his shoulder.

* * *

It was dark by the time they finally saw the way out. The moon was shining over the plain, and they could see a campfire from under a single tall oak tree.

"Well, here we are." The boy waed his paw dramatically towards the exit. "We know you have a lot of choices out there, but thanks for flying Air Saber."

"Ssh!" the girl hissed. "They don't even know what those are yet! Then turning back to Diego and Adrian, she smiled and said "Well, this is where we say goodbye."

"You're not at least coming to the exit?" Adrian questioned.

"We can't risk anyone else seeing us." the girl explained. "We're representing something from the future, remember? It's very dangerous."

"But we saw you."

"Well, it's your future, isn't it, Diego?" The boy grinned.

"Shut up!" the girl yelled at him, making him jump a foot in the air. "Do you want their whole herd to see us?" But she'd said it as though he had given away classified information.

"Ditto." he argued, dusting himself off.

"Oh, well, since that's given away, I might as well clear the rest up." she said, giving up. "**We** two won't see **you** two ever again, unless you decide to come back here. And I strictly adivse against that. But that doesn't mean-" she continued with a smile. "-**you** two won't see **us** two ever again."

"Way to clear it up, hypocrite." The boy rolled his eyes again as his sister glared at him. They began to dissolve into fog, and then, they were gone.


	16. Reunions and the Third Challenge

The two sabers were met with a warm and frantic welcome when they approached the campfire.

"Guys!" Ellie yelled, jumping up.

"You're okay!" joined in Crash and Eddie.

"We taught you wen bye-bye, Aunnie Ay-trine!" Peaches cheered, tackling them with a big hug.

Adrian patted her on the head, a bit surprised, but happy, that Peaches called her Aunt. "Yeah, well I guess you're still stuck with me, kid." she replied, smiling.

"How'd you make it out alive?" Crash asked.

"Same way you did." Diego answered, and raised an eyebrow at the twins. "Why, you two weren't **worried** about me, were ya?"

"Well…who else are we going to annoy all the time?" Crash dismissed, shrugging.

"Yeah, we're just glad SuperSaber's okay." Eddie echoed, hitting knuckles with Adrian.

* * *

It was a long time later, when, after the eating and rejoicing, that everyone fell asleep, and Adrian and Diego were able to talk to each other.

"What do you think those...**things** meant? About 'not seeing them, but seeing them' and all that tripe?" Adrian questioned.

"No idea. But what matters is that now we're all out of there, and just one freezing glacier pass away from finding your family." Diego said. "Dwelling on the past isn't going to help us now. We should just get some sleep."

He laid his head down to rest, but Adrian wasn't finished. "Diego-I'm sorry, you know, when I was yelling at you back there." she apologized. "I was nervous and-yes, **scared**, but that's no excuse for acting the way I did. I'm sorry I was so...um..."

"Bossy?" Diego suggested.

"Yeah." she agreed.

"Pushy?"

"That too." she sighed.

"Cranky?"

"I suppose." she enunciated, hinting for him to stop.

"A know-it-all?"

"Yeah, yeah, all that." she cut off. "I just-I went in there thinking I had to order everyone around since I knew about trees and bark and silly things like that, and...gosh, I guess I really don't know anything at all, do I?" she realized.

"Not anything. You can eat berries better than anyone I know."

"Well, you don't know many berry-eaters." Adrian pointed out, laughing.

"Not really. But for what it's worth, I'm sorry too. We were all stressed, and I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's no more than I deserved." Adrian leaned her head against her paws, and looked at the distant glacier. "The last challenge." she said, gesturing to it. "But for all we know, it'll be the hardest."

"Hey, we survived a fire, dodged a killer croc, and made it through a deadly marsh. What's a little snow and ice gonna do?" Diego shrugged.

"With our luck, it'll be a million degrees below zero." she answered sadly.

"Leave the worrying to me, okay? And we've got good luck. We survived this much, haven't we?" he reassured

"Mm-hmm." she nodded. "But what about Hazel and-"

"Go to sleep." he interrupted. "And stop the pessimism, or you'll give yourself a migrane. We need our strength for the morning."

"Right, you're right." she yawned. He closed his eyes, and she watched him contentedly for a minute before doing the same. Yawning again, she added "G'night, honey bunch."

Diego wasn't. "**What**?" he asked, sitting up.

"What d'ya mean, **what**?" Adrian mumbled.

"You called me 'honey bunch'."

She mouthed it to herself drowsily a few times before noticing anything wrong with it. "Oh!" she gasped, sitting up and wide awake. "Oh, well, I thought you were someone else for a minute." she lied.

"Someone else...named Honey Bunch?" he questioned.

"Yeah, Honey Bunch Beaver. She's Hazel's second cousin. I haven't seen her in a while, but she used to come over to visit every winter." Adrian continued. "Our dam had the best insulation in the forest."

She closed her eyes again. "Good night, _Diego_." she corrected. The still clueless Diego followed her lead curiously, and before long they were asleep.

* * *

Diego's description of 'a little snow and ice.' wasn't what fit the third challenge. The temperature, wind, and all else seemed to be pitted against the herd in a fight to the death. The snow was so deep that the possum twins and Peaches had to stay on Ellie's back, because they'd be buried if they stepped in the snow. For all the hedgehog had told them at the beginning, they hadn't spotted any monsters, unless the monstrous conditions counted. All there was was snow, mountains, and rocks. Peaches kept sneezing and coughing, which only added to their worries. She couldn't stand the cold as well as the adults could.

Crash and Eddie, to pass the time, huddled together to make sure they didn't freeze, and played I Spy. Of course, it wasn't very hard.

"I spy...something white and fluffly-" Crash started.

"Snow." Eddie finished irritably. "And I'll just guess at the others; snow, snow, snow, and even more snow."

"Wow, that's scary, bro." Crash commented.

"You see the way out?" Manny yelled to Adrian and Diego at the front, his tusks rimmed with ice.

"We can still see it, all right, but we're not much closer than we were before." Diego called back.

"We've got to stop and rest somewhere." Ellie shouted. "We've been walking for hours, and Peaches is going to get frostbite if we don't hurry and find someplace safe."

"Sthe's not the only one." Sid picked a icesicle off of his tongue.

Manny scanned the area. "How 'bout there?" He pointed to a dark, but roomy cave a little ways off.

"I don't know." Adrian said uncertainly, checking over the cave "That place doesn't **look** very safe."

"It's the only place we've got." Manny argued. Peaches gave another sneeze. Not wanting to risk Peaches, Adrian nodded, and pushed a path forward. The herd followed her.

* * *

A/N: I really hope this chapter's not too sketchy, I was worried if I put too much in it, it'd seem rushed. But if I didn't put enough, than I'd have to have more unnecessary chapters.

Review, please, if you want (I'm saying that because there haven't been a lot of reviews for my last two chapters. But then again, they weren't the best ones I've written, plus I've been so horrible at updating I can't blame Writer's Block any longer, even though that's the reason why.) I'm sorry if I let you down but I still love you readers!


	17. The Cave and What Was in It

A/N: Hey, can you believe it? The story's almost over!** I** can hardly believe it; I spent so much time on it. Probably more than I needed to (slap in the face to me). But only two chapters to go before the story ends, so review now before it's too late!

* * *

"Well, this isn't so bad." Sid relaxed as they walked into the cave. The temperature had risen a few degrees. But only a few.

"Yeah, it's not so bad. Sure, it's dark, freezing, lifeless, damp, dark, cold, dark, frigid...did I mention **dark**?" Eddie replied sarcastically, scraping ice off his nose

"Sure, other than that, it's a regular vacation spot." Crash grumbled, wiping snow off his fur.

"It's better than out there." Manny pointed out, looking behind him. "At least we'll have some time to rest before we go back out again."

"Maybe we won't need to go back out."

Adrian had been gazing into the blackness of the back part of the cave for as long as they had gotten there, with a familiar wide-eyed look on her face that told Diego she was getting an idea.

"Why?" he asked simply. She turned around fervently.

"Because, we don't know how long this cave goes on for." She gestured into the blackness. "What if it leads right through the glacier to the other side? We could all go out that way, and not have to worry about being frozen to death."

The others were still staring in hesitation at the looming danger. "Well, if you'll pardon the expression," Diego piped up. "I still don't see the light at the end of this tunnel. From what I've learned on this trek, dark places have got all kinds of creepy-crawlies in them. And I don't just mean bugs."

She stared blankly at him, then scrunched her face in puzzlement, apparently not having took it into account.

"I don't doubt you, but it might not be safer either way." he finished.

"Well, then, I could go and check for trouble, and try to find the exit at the back. If there is one." she speculated. "And if there is, and it leads us out, I'll come back for you guys."

"Going by yourself? That sounds too dangerous." Ellie shook her head. Adrian smiled grimly.

"Thanks for the concern, but I'll be okay on my own. Sabers' eyes can see better in the dark than most animals, so it won't be too hard for me. No, maybe you should stay here, Diego-" she said to him, when he was about to open his mouth. "In case something tries to make lunch out of you guys, you'll have to protect them."

"Ay-trine." Peaches waved to her with her trunk. "Goo luck."

"See you on the other side, kid." Adrian nodded back at her before bounding across the stones and ice into the darkness.

* * *

In their night-vision mode, Adrian's eyes scanned the area quickly and thoroughly. She figured she was about midway through the cave now, unless it went on for longer than she thought.

_Haven't found anything yet-ouch!_ she thought. On cue, she'd tripped over something. Dusting herself off, she turned to see what this thing was, and gasped with horror.

It was a toe from the skeleton of a full-grown mammoth rearing upright towards the ceiling. A closer look confirmed its ribs had been broken, by a jarring blow. Its mouth was in a screaming position, and its limbs were flailed in the air, trying to get away from something-but in vain.

"This didn't die of natural causes." she observed morosely, moving closer to the broken ribs. "And whatever creature it was that could finish it off so quickly might have been the same size as it. Or bigger." The thought sent chills down her spine, but she shook it off.

"Well, the skeleton's old. Whatever had killed it must have died anyway." she reassured herself. _But still-_

She took another look at the ribs. What had killed the mammoth?

"Last time I saw wounds like this, it was when a woolly rhino had killed a pack of fossa." she mumbled to herself. "It had broken one of their ribs just like this guy's. But, no...woolly rhinos only grow to about seven or eight feet. Surely not big enough to kill a mammoth. Besides, why would it? They're vegetarians, aren't they?"

But she remembered how there was no plant life anywhere they had looked. If there were no plants, the animals living there had to turn carnivore in order to survive. _Evolution at its worst_ she thought.

Shrugging her shoulders nervously, she walked on. Suddenly, a burst of light filled her eyes.

"Is that-?" she started to ask, running towards it, and saw that it was another cave entrance, leading out to a barren and rocky, but less icy world. She could see mountains beyond it, and if she wasn't mistaken, clear skies and sunshine beyond that.

"The way out." she said breathily, overcome with joy. Now, she had to go back for the rest of the herd. Making a mental map inside her head, she ran back as fast as her legs could carry her. She could have sworn she heard growling as she passed.

_Must have been the wind_ she dismissed, not noticing that 'the wind' stuck its head out from behind the rocks, sharpened its horn against one, and watched her with a beady eye.

* * *

"You think she's okay?" Ellie asked worriedly. "She should have been back an hour ago."

"Well, it's a long cave, give her time. She'll be fine. See?" Sid pointed to Adrian, who had skidded to a stop near them. She was panting, but looked ecstatic.

"I...I found...the way out." she breathed, smiling. "Goes through...glacier...like I thought. Didn't...see any...let's go."

"Wait, just catch your breath first. Don't want you fainting on us." Diego advised.

"I've never fainted...in my life." she corrected. "I passed out before...but it's not...the same thing."

A huge, menacing shadow appeared in front of the herd, Adrian was too tired to notice.

"Uh, Adrian?" Crash squeaked, as they all looked up at the monster.

"W-what?" she panted. A snort from above her answered her question. She looked up.

A mutant ten-foot woolly rhino had come out from behind her. Except it wasn't exactly like a woolly rhino. It had bluish white plating that resembled armor, a four-foot-long thick horn, and a stain over its mouth that was-Adrian realized with a gulp-dried blood.

"Holy apple cedar-_what is that thing_?" she yelled.

"Doesn't matter, run!" The others started to head back out into the blizzard.

"No, in between its legs!" Adrian screamed over the rhino's roaring. "We can still make it out of here!" Bravely, she jumped at the rhino as it was about to charge, and scratched it on the muzzle. The beast yelled in pain and reared up. "Go! GO!" she directed.

With no time to lose, the herd ran under the rhino's legs and into the tunnel. Adrian followed up the rear, acting as lookout.

"I no see!" Peaches yelled. "Where we go?"

"Just keep going straight." Diego's eyes darted around. "Adrian, we lost Ugly yet?"

"He's a little farther away now, but in a couple of seconds, he's gonna realize we've given him the slip." she called back to him. "The cave ceiling and walls here are made of packed rocks, so if he knocks a few down, we might be caved in."

"Let's hope he's not smart enough to figure that out, though." Manny shouted. A roar and a lot of flying boulders confirmed their suspicions.

"Manny, take it back before he starts throwing more!" Eddie and Crash hung on for dear life as the other tried to dodge the deadly rocks.

"Throwing more-that's it!" Diego exclaimed. "Manny, Ellie, grab some and throw them against the wall!"

"But won't the wall fall on us?" Ellie asked.

"Not if we run fast enough!" Adrian responded, onto Diego's plan. "With luck, it'll fall on **him**!"

Ellie, handing Peaches off to Manny, snatched a five-foot stone out of the air and launched it at the nearest wall. Eardrums split as the cave wall came crashing down only a couple inches behind them. Fianlly, they made it out to the exit.

When it was over, Adrian stopped to check the damage. Only a part of the wall had fallen down, stopping only a few feet from the skeleton Adrian had seen earlier. But the good news was, they hadn't been crushed, and the rhino was nowhere in sight.

"Whew." Crash and Eddie breathed a huge sigh of relief, and fell backwards onto the rocky ground.

"I think-we lost him." Adrian exulted. "Jeez, I've never run that fast in my li-"

Another roar pieced the chilled air. The ground trembled as Ugly ran in front of them, blocking their path.

"I dink we jus made it madder!" Peaches shreiked. Crash and Eddie, out of ideas, tried playing dead.

"Not now, guys!" Ellie scooped them up in her trunk as the rhino swiped at them. It missed and hit the cave wall, moving the rocks to the left about an inch or two. "Run! Maybe it'll get tired!"

They darted to the right, and didn't go very far before they heard a scream. Adrian had gotten out last, and the rhino had tried to hit her against the wall with his foot, deciding he would eat the others later. "Adrian!" Diego yelled, worried she would smash into the rocks. But a pained roar from the rhino look told them that she hadn't gone flying at all. She had dug her claws into his foot and was hanging on with all her might.

"S'okay." she mumbled, getting dizzy as the rhino swung his foot around. "He can't move very far now." Getting a tighter grip, she tried to climb up his leg, but then the rhino kicked, and she ended up on the front of his snout, hanging on to his horn.

"You guys just-" she tried to call over to them, except Ugly came up with an idea to bounce his head forward to shake her off. Unfortunatly, it worked.

"Aah!" she yelled, as she went plummetting into the cave. She hit her head on a wall inside very hard, and slumped to the ground.

The rest of the herd tried to get to her, but Peaches was faster. "Ay-trine, get up!" She scrambled over to her unconscious form and pushed her with her trunk. "Get up, you gotta get up!"

In his rage, the rhino used all his force to smash his horn into the ceiling above the exit. The herd saw what was going to happen.

"No!" Diego ran forward towards the cave, almost getting crushed himself, but Ellie pulled him back as the ceiling began to collapse. When the dust settled, the entrance was blocked. Adrian and Peaches were caved in. And they still had to face Ugly.

* * *

A sore-headed Adrian woke to Peaches screaming "GET UP WE GOTTA GET OUT!"

"What-what happened?" She looked around. They were trapped in a five-by five rocky space, with walls blocked on either side. Peaches was trying to push aside the rocks, but they were too big for her. The spaces in the ceiling provided only a little light.

"Peaches, how'd you get in here?" she asked.

"Meanie monster knock you against wall an you no get up. So I check to see if you okay, and then rhino run at wall an den we trap." she explained, pushing against another rock to see if it was more loose. "I try get us out but dese rocks no budge."

"What about the others?" Adrian asked, hearing a scream from outside.

"I dunno. We need get to dem, fast. But how?"

Adrian stood up shakily, trying to look for an opening in the wall, but there were none. Like Peaches, she began to push, but to no avail. Then, she heard Peaches babble"Ay-trine, looka me! Rock push here."

Upon turning, she saw Peaches standing precariously on the mammoth skeleton's head, only a couple feet from the ceiling.

"Get down from there!" she hissed. "Before you-"

But she found out what 'rock push here' meant when Peaches slid her small trunk through a crack, and pushed down a rock slab. There was room enough for them to get through.

"-break you neck." she finished. "Peaches, you're a genius!"

"I try." Peaches said modestly, then used her little limbs to scramble up the hole in the ceiling. "Now you try. Come on."

Getting her footing, Adrian hung on to the mammoth's spine as she climbed. "How were you able to get up?" she asked her.

"I go up da longy thing, like you doing." she answered, than raised an eyebrow. "Ay-trine, what is dis?"

As she heard another roar from outside, she thought _It's what your mommy and daddy are going to be if we don't hurry_, but merely said "Let's hope you never find out." She was on top of the head now, and was reaching up to the rock, when the skeleton gave way under the weight. Adrian was about to fall down with it, but Peaches was somehow able to grab hold of her claw with her tiny trunk and hoist her up.

Both of them sat for a minute, panting. "Kid," Adrian said, relieved. "You just saved my life."

"Good. Now we even." Peaches giggled. "Now we go save family, right?"

"Yeah, about that." Adrian looked down at the ground. There were no stable footholds along the wall, so it was a sheer drop to the bottom. "First, I think we'd better find a way down."


	18. The Fight and The Plan

Peaches, following Adrian's lead, looked over the edge and shuddered.

"Yikes." she muttered. "We no go down that way, right?"

"Right." Adrian affirmed. "We just have to find some other way down-"

She heard the rhino snort, and the ground rumbling far away as he charged. She realized with a jolt that they were on the wrong side of the rocks.

"-**around** the cave to the other side," she corrected. "and not breaking our necks in the process."

She sat, thinking in despair, while Peaches looked around the area. Finally, she bounded away towards something. "Ay-trine, lookit!" she called over.

The thing Peaches had found was a small ledge going around the side of a rocky wall. It lead to where they needed to be, sure, but the ledge was only two feet wide, and if they misplaced their footing, it was a very long and fatal fall.

"Uh, Peaches? I also mentioned** not** breaking our necks." Adrian pointed out, walking over to examine the precarious ledge.

"We sneak around here, take big meanie rhino by surprise." Peaches argued. Which, of course, was possible, the rhino probably thought they were dead already.

"But how could we both get across? It's too small."

"You carry me and walk, I pull you back up if you trip. Easy-peasy-wind-and-breezy." She smiled, as if crossing cliffs was something she did every day.

Adrian gulped. With a fight going on on the other side, they had no time to waste. And there didn't seem to be any other options.

"'Kay, kid. Hop on." she sighed. Peaches stepped happily on to Adrian's back, and Adrian nearly staggered from the weight. In her panic, she had forgotten Peaches, as a baby mammoth, weighed nearly 30 pounds.

_Lucky she isn't any older, or I'd already be dead._ Adrian thought, and started to take baby steps towards her doom. _Well, here I go._

* * *

As soon as she stepped forward, everything seemed to be pulling her down. The chilling wind, her aching bones, her stressed mind.

"If there was ever a time for me **not** to be klutzy, please let it be now." she prayed as she took another step.

"No looking down, keep moving." Peaches advised. "We okay so far."

Four more minutes and they were still alive. Adrian was midway through the ledge now, she could even see shadows on the other side. What seemed to be either Manny or Ellie was trying to fend off the rhino, but it didn't look like they would last for long.

"Hurry." Peaches whispered, observing this as well. "We be quiet so he no see us."

Adrian took another step, but shrank back with a gasp. A large crack had appeared in the rock, and almost as quickly, a huge chunk had fallen off.

"What? What happened?" Peaches asked.

"Part of the rock fell off. I can't get to the other side." she hissed.

"Then jump!"

"What? I can't, I'll fall!"

"Ssh! No you not!"

There was crash on the other side. Someone screamed.

"All right, okay? I'll try it." Adrian leaned back and spread out her claws. "Hang on."

She felt Peaches's trunk hold tighter around her stomach. Then, she jumped.

And **nearly** missed.

As soon as she had landed on the other part of the ledge, it started to break off. She scrambled to make it to the other side, but didn't get her feet on the last section in time. The side of her face scraped against the harsh stone. But, miraculously, her claws had made contact at the last second.

Ignoring the stinging feeling in her left cheek, she pulled Peaches and herself to the top, and fell down, panting.

* * *

"Told you you no fall." Peaches said breathlessly, getting down from off her back and looking at Adrian's cut cheek. "Ay-trine, you hurt!"

"Never mind that." she dismissed, getting up. "We need to see what's going on." She looked over the side of the wall.

The rhino still wasn't down, and neither was the herd,thank goodness. Manny and Ellie were using their tusks to drive the beast back while Crash, Eddie, and Sid threw pebbles at it from farther back. Diego-she saw, feeling a mixture of fear and pride, was jumping at its side, trying to go for the jugular.

"What we do now?" Peaches asked. "I no see anything."

"Well, your parents and Uncle Diego are holding the rhino off, and your other uncles are throwing stuff at it. You go with them, while I help your parents and Diego." Adrian ordered, then on a gentler note, she said "I don't want you to get hurt, okay?"

"No problem, I can throw stuff, too." Peaches nodded. "And I no want you hurt, either." She thought about it for a minute. "But how I get across without monster see me?"

"That's where I come in. Now go. Run."

Peaches obediently scurried out, while Adrian lunged at the rhino, jumping over it and landing near Diego.

"You need a hand, tiger?" She smiled at his bewilderment.

"You're-but how-?"

"Oh, we climbed up a skeleton, then walked around a two-foot-ledge, narrowly missing death. Nothing big." She laughed, realizing how nonchalant it really sounded, but he seemed impressed. "Now, are you going to gawk at me or are we going to fight this guy?" She roared and clawed at the rhino, almost hitting its leg.

"Where's Peaches?" he queried.

"Safe. Now fill me in, what's our strategy here?"

"Uh, make sure we don't get killed?" he answered matter-of-factly.

"Yes, that. And?" She swerved to avoid a jab from the rhino's horn.

"That's pretty much it."

"Oh."

More pebbles rained in the rhino's eyes, and it lashed out blindly. Adrian pulled Diego out of the way just in time.

"Thanks. I guess I have to get used to you being the hero, huh?" Diego half-joked.

"We can't keep this up forever. Have you guys tried pushing it off the cliff?" she suggested.

"It's too strong for Manny and Ellie to push, believe it or not."

She looked over at the sealed cave. "What about the boulders?"

"Impossible. We wouldn't be able to get a clear shot, it keeps moving around."

A light clicked on inside Adrian's mind. "Nothing's impossible. I could distract it, and get it close enough to the edge while Manny and Ellie throw some of the rocks. They'll hit him, he falls down, and I'll get out of the way in time." She stopped to listen to his response.

"_Are you crazy?_" he yelled.

"Probably." she shrugged, expecting nothing less.

"When I said I'd have to get used to you being the hero, I was just kidding!" he argued. "You're not doing this."

"Yes, I am. And it'll do no good arguing about it." She shook her head. "You're the toughest saber I've ever met, Diego, but-"

"And **you're** the most stubborn." he muttered, too tense to appreciate the compliment. She raised an eyebrow.

"Darn right I am. And the most pushy, and the most reckless. You'll never win an argument, get used to it." she laughed bitterly, then changed to a more pleading tone. "But this is the only shot we've got. Trust me, please."

Ugly roared again. Diego sighed with finality. "Do what you have to." he grumbled. "But for both our sakes, try not to get hurt."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Without warning, she rubbed her head against his cheek. "And **that's** for if I don't make it." she said, smiling, then added seriously "Pass on the plan to the others."

The only sensible thing the wide-eyed Diego could force out was "Uhhh-"

Taking that as a cue, Adrian climbed up the rhino's back and shouted "Hey, Badger-breath! I took ya on once, I can do it again!"

Diego, shaking out of his stupor, ran to Ellie and Manny, yelling "Get back! When they're near the cliff, take some of the boulders and aim for the rhino!"

"But what about-?" Manny started to ask, looking at Adrian wrestling to stay on the rhino's back as it thrashed about angrily.

"Just do it!" He ran to Sid, Peaches, Crash and Eddie. "Stop it! We've got a new plan."

"Does it involve SuperSaber over there riding a bucking rhino?" Eddie asked, pointing to Adrian. She was seeming to take the possiblilty of death in her stride, as she was hanging by a limb on Ugly screaming 'Yee-haw!', her fur blowing in the wind.

"Some girl, huh?" Sid crossed his arms and looked at Diego, who even in his panic felt even more admiration for her.

He nodded blankly, and touched his cheek. Had that gesture meant she really cared about him? Or was it just a possible last-minute goodbye between friends?

"Get ready!" she yelled to Manny and Ellie, looking behind her. She was only a few feet away from the drop. Climbing around to sit on the rhino's head, she tried to push him backwards. Manny and Ellie grabbed some nearby rocks.

"I don't think I can get him any farther! Throw only one first, that should get him off-balance." she interjected between pants. "Ready...NOW!"

Using all his might, Manny launched the heavy rock at the rhino's chest, where it met its target. Ugly staggered back until his huge feet nearly were off the cliff. Adrian hopped down from its nose. "Okay, now the second one-AAH!"

What had happened in that time was far too numerous to take in. When Adrian had said 'the second one', Ellie had throw her boulder. And even without the boulder's help, the rhino started to teeter and fall. But at the last minute, it swung out its arms, one to reach in front of Adrian and drag her down with him, the other to deflect the boulder. Since he had no strength to send it back at Ellie, it fell limply over the cliff after Adrian did.

"NO!" everyone screamed, including little Peaches, who had come out of her hiding spot to witness the horrible spectacle. Two seconds later, they heard a deafening crash. The rhino had landed on the bottom, surely dead. And the second rock had cracked upon landing.

Peaches ran over to the edge, still in shock. But then, she gasped. "Ay-trine not fall so far. Lookit!" She pointed with her trunk to the gorge below.

The others ran quickly over to look for themselves. Adrian had landed on a medium-sized slab of the cliff only twelve feet down, which was luckier than the rhino. The bad news was, the second rock had landed on top of her, knocking her unconscious-or worse.

"We've got to get down there!" Diego choked out, and was about to jump himself when Peaches yelled "Path over there leads down! Hurry!"

Diego lead the way as the herd ran as fast as they could down to the platform. There were chunks of rocks that had broken off they could see now, and it was one of these, not the entire rock, that had hit Adrian in the head. But she still had a pretty nasty bruise. Manny and Ellie picked up the other chunks and threw them over the cliff. Even Peaches did her part, helping with the really small parts of the rock, until the whole of Adrian was uncovered. Her back legs lay twisted, and as they all feared, she was not breathing.

"Oh, this is all my fault." Tears sprang in Ellie's eyes. "I shouldn't have thrown the boulder, it landed right on top of her." Manny put his trunk around her shoulders.

"Don't talk like that, it wasn't your fault at all." he said, with a waver to his voice. "It would've hit the rhino, but he sent it that direction, not you. We're just lucky that the plan worked." He looked back down at Adrian. "Well...almost."

"Why are her legs all bent like that?" Crash asked.

"They must be broken. Or badly sprained or something." Diego choked out. "But I guess it doesn't matter, she's not-I mean, she isn't-"

Peaches started to cry, and Ellie wrapped her trunk around her. "There, there, it's okay."

She shook her head. "What if Ay-trine never wake up?"

"She's got to!"

Diego, trying to be strong for all of them, was fighting back tears. He bent over her. "Come on, breath!" he yelled at her listless form. "Breath!"

Crash and Eddie started to run to him, but Ellie put her foot in front of them. "Don't." she said simply. "Let him be."

"Adrian, get up." he sighed. "Please." He held up her limp paw.

"I don't care if you're stubborn, or reckless, or anything else. You're the bravest person I've ever known. You've taken on more things than I even imagined anyone could, and you're **not** going to let this kill you! Get up!" Small tears started to trickle down his face, and he turned away from the others so they wouldn't see.

But then again, he thought, what did it matter? Adrian was dead. The will had gone out of his heart, the joy had gone from his life. His beautiful, brave, sun-furred, dark-eyed, big-hearted Adrian...gone forever. Well, she might have been his Adrian once and for all, if he had had the guts to tell her how he really felt. And he might have found out if she'd really felt the same way about him.

This brought more tears to his eyes, and he brought her hand up to his cheek, sniffling. The others, even before knowing he loved Adrian, still were surprised. He'd never cried in front of them.

"Uncie Dee-go." Peaches piped up meekly, stepping forward. "We need go now. To new home in new land. It only a couple days away."

Diego nodded. With a sigh, he bent down to kiss Adrian's forehead, and said in the most even voice he could manage "All right, I'll go in a minute."

The others, looking sadly at Adrian, began to scale back up to the road ahead. Peaches, tears still in her pea-green eyes, whispered "Bye, Auntie Ay-dree-en." The touching fact that Peaches had finally gotten Adrian's name right, and had called her Aunt on top of it, sent Diego in a fresh wave of tears. He shut his eyes and squeezed her paw harder, as if it were the only thing he wanted in the world.

It was about five seconds later when he realized that the fingers on the paw were moving, wiping away his tears. He heard a crackly, but familiar voice say "Hey, don't start crying on me, Mr. Tough Guy, I'm not worth it."

The others, hearing as well, ran back happily with cries of "Adrian?", "SHE'S OKAY!", and Peaches ran fastest of all to give her a hug.

"Easy, kid, I just got up." Adrian joked, hugging her back all the same.

"We thought you were gone for good, Auntie Adrian." Peaches sobbed.

"What? No way, kid, you're all stuck with me for good." Adrian reassured. Diego still hadn't let go of her paw, but she didn't seem to mind.

"What happened to the rhino?" she asked.

"Fell off the cliff. But unlike you, it won't be rising from the dead." Eddie replied.

"That was so awesome how you rode on its back like that!" Crash cheered in admirance. "But why did you yell that...'yee-haw' thing?"

She shrugged. "Seemed like something to say at the moment." Peaches gave her some room as Adrian tried to stand up, but then she fell back down again, hissing and gritting her teeth. "What the-what in the evergreen redwoods happened to my legs?" she demanded, seeing their tortured appearance.

"Sprained, maybe. It'll take a couple days to heal, which is about the time it'll take to get to the new land." Ellie responded.

"New land-oh, yeah! We're out of the Labyrinth aren't we?" Adrian confirmed.

"After we come to the clearing up there, we will be. Right now we're on the edge." Diego reminded her.

"Oh, okay. Well, how am I going to get that far if I can't even walk?" Adrian questioned.

"That's easy. I'll carry you." Ellie offered. Adrian's eyes widened, and Diego, letting go of her paw, chuckled. He rembered that no matter what situation, sabers always thought of their pride.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I think maybe I can manage if I try." Adrian tried to sit up a second time, and fell back again painfully.

Ellie giggled, too. "Sure you can." she agreed sarcastically. "Okay, just hang on, I'll carry you on my back." She carefully wrapped her trunk aroun dher and hoisted her up.

"But-wait-No!-oh, fine." she grumbled, as she was lifted unwillingly onto Ellie's back. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

As the team walked up the path and onto the road away from the Labyrinth, Diego hurried to catch up with Ellie and Adrian, and said contentedly to the latter "Thanks for risking your life for all of us."

"Hey, what are friends for?" she replied, smiling, the muttered to herself "Gosh darn leg-can't even bend it." But she looked around at the pine trees and added "Nice view up here, though."

"Sure...friends." Diego sighed.

He'd tell her somehow, when the time was right. But, he remembered, she'd be joining her beaver family. What if they were moving off to who-knew-where and he never saw her again. It would have to be soon. But what if she didn't-after all they had been through-didn't feel the same way?


	19. The Perfect Ending and a New Beginning

A/N: IT'S FINALLY HERE!

The last chapter of this story! The longest chapter I've ever written! The grand finale!

Adrian will finally reunite with her sisters, meet a few new faces...and maybe a familiar one? Plus, will Diego finally tell Adrian the truth?

Well, I'm certainly not going to tell you here! Read on and find out!

P.S: There will be a Chapter 20, but it'll be more of a sneak preview of 'future writings' than an actual chapter.

P.S.S: Please review, and tell me what you thought of this chapter, and the whole story in general. The good, the bad, the ugly, the pretty, don't be afraid to tell me!

P.S.S.S: Again on Chapter 20, please read it, too, because when I said 'future writings' I meant there will be a few author's notes and a paragraph or two from the new, up-and-coming SEQUEL to this story! So if you're a fan (or not, whatever), read through Chapter 20 as soon as I publish it.

P.S.S.S.S (long eyeroll here: Yes, I said SEQUEL! And when that comes out, I urge you to read it as well!

P.S.S.S.S.S: On a less important note, I recently got glasses! Yeah, I know, so what. Just read on before I keep blabbering!

* * *

"Are you sure you want to keep doing this? You'll wear out your legs before we even start walking."

"Sure, I'm sure." Adrian replied, trying to straighten herself on her worn limbs.

It had been about two days since the herd had cleared the Labyrinth. Adrian's back legs were found not to have been broken, just severely injured. She practiced walking, and often, to make sure she wouldn't have to be carried around. She asked Diego most of these times to help her in case she fell.

"I appreciate Ellie wanting to help out and all-" Adrian started forward, her back legs touching the ground lightly and carefully. "-but I've got my pride to think about. That doesn't sound too selfish, does it? **Aah**!" she hissed, as one of her feet bent sideways by mistake.

"Not at all." Diego quickly agreed. "But you should stop for now, or you're gonna hurt yourself even more."

"Nonsense." she objected, going back to her starting point. "One more run can't hurt. Much." She took a pause and braced herself before trying again. "And who knows? Maybe-if I keep this up, looking where I'm going and all-" she panted, setting her feet slowly onto the rocky turf. "-I might finally be…uh…un-clumsy-fied?" she stuttered, trying to find the right phrase. Her pace had quickened now to a brisk skip, and so far there was no trouble.

"I don't even think that's a word." Diego chuckled. "Whoa, steady now, you're leaning too far left."

"I'm okay, don't worry. If babies can learn to walk, than so can I." Adrian said determinedly.

"I don't think you're clumsy. Sure, you were, kind of, before, but haven't you noticed you didn't trip at all recently?"

Adrian hardly seemed to be paying attention, she was now walking towards him at a regular pace, watching her feet. "I'm doing it...I'm doing it!" she yelled in excitement. "Look!" she cried out, looking up at him. "I can finally...**yikes**!"

In her enthusiasm, she had forgotten to move her back leg at the last second, and it hit her other foot, tripping her up. Luckily, she was not far from Diego, so he was able to catch her.

"It's okay. You were doing fine." he reassured, in case she got mad at herself. "I'm the one that jinxed it."

She stared at him wordlessly for a minute before remembering she was supposed to let go of him. "Of course not." she argued, straightening up awkwardly. "Overall, I'd say that was a sucess."

"I'll go tell the others. We should be ready to move out soon." Diego started to go, then turned back to her and said "If we're lucky, maybe we'll find your sisters."

"I hope so." she echoed faintly. He went to leave again.

"But Diego, the land we're going to...it sounds like a big place." she interjected. "How will we find them?"

"Don't worry, I'll pick up their scent." he responded. "I'm not the best tracker in the world, but..."

"You are in my book." she cut off, blushing. He turned to go a third time, but Adrian called out to him again "Diego, wait, there's something else."

"Yeah?" he questioned.

"If they're living farther away from you guys, or going to a new place altogether..." she sighed. "I'll have to make a decision, won't I?"

It had been a possibility that had been nagging on both their minds, though neither of them had voiced it to each other before.

"Whether to go with them or not." Diego finished for her. "Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

* * *

The herd had ground to a halt. Directly in front of them was a low, long cave entrance, with a natural stone bridge running through it. A stream of water ran through the cave from under neath. There was a sister cave next to the main one, but it was smaller and didn't look like it ran all the way through to the other side. In it, they heard yawns and laughter.

"When I said bridge, I didn't mean it literal-Adrian?" Diego interrupted his train of thought as Adrian, in a trancelike state, walked over to the smaller cave. She stared into it for a while before saying breathily. "Hazel."

The others followed her to the mouth of the cave. Inside, there were seven beavers, all with reddish-brown fur. Most of them either had bright blue eyes or dark brown eyes, but the tallest one, facing Adrian, had irises of the purest hazel. They all looked at Adrian, shocked, as though they were seeing a ghost.

"A-adrian?" Hazel staggered forward. "Is it really-how did-where-"

With tears in their eyes, the two foster-sisters hugged each other, then were bombarded by the younger ones, all happy to see their big sis Adrian again.

"Okay, guys, okay! Give her some room!" Hazel commanded, shuffling her other sisters behind her, than wiped away a few tears.

"You made it out of the fire after all." she stated, giving her another hug. "When we didn't see you or Mom once the place had burned down, we assumed you both were...you know." The smile slipped from Adrian's face, but Hazel didn't notice, she was still talking. "And you got picked up by...who are these guys?" she asked, then with a keen eye, pointed out Diego from the rest of the crowd. "Oh, wait, I see you. Nice meetin' you again, Fuzz. You two engaged yet?" she gestured her small paws between Adrian and him.

"Oh, no, no, no, it's nothing like that. We're friends." Adrian blushed. "Jeez, we haven't seen each other for nearly three months and that's the first thing you ask?"

Hannah and Hailey tittered from behind Hazel, who shushed them.

"I'll introduce you to the herd. This is Manny, his wife Ellie, their daughter Peaches..." Adrian introduced. Ellie smiled down at the beavers, while Peaches waved hello with her trunk. Little mute Hildy waved back.

"...Ellie's brothers Crash and Eddie, and that's Sid." Adrian finished. All three of them waved too.

"And where's-" Hazel tried looking past them, but didn't see anything. Then, the realization hit her. "You-and Mom made it out, right?"

Adrian shook her head. "I did my best to save her. It wasn't enough."

Hazel sighed, and crossed her arms protectively. "Well, that's what we expected. But I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm okay now, that I've got my sisters with me." It was Adrian's turn to wipe away a tear. "I missed you guys so much."

"Mmm-hmm." Hazel nodded.

"But how'd you guys get through on your own?" Manny cut in.

"Oh! I forgot to mention that..." Hazel immediately perked up, and called down to the back of the cave. "Sweetie, can you wake up and come here for a minute?"

For the first time, Adrian and the others noticed there was a shadowed figured in the back of the cave. It grunted and said groggily "Wha?"

"Phinny, my sister's here. The one I was telling you about. And her friends." Hazel continued, then turned back towards the gang, positively beaming. "He'll be here in a second." she excused.

"Sweetie?" Adrian repeated, raising an eyebrow at her sister. The figure walked slowly up to them, yawning and scratching his head.

He was a thin beaver, with dark brown fur, watery blue eyes and a ruddy smile on his tired face. "Nice t' meet t'cha." he mumbled.

"This is Phineas. He'd been through the Labyrinth before and he offered to help us through. He's also helping us finish our new dam, it's by the West River in the Golden Glade." Hazel introduced.

"The what in the hoo-wha?" Crash asked.

"The Golden Glade. That's what the residents call it, anyway. Kind of catchy, dont'cha think?" Phineas rubbed his eyes and smiled. Hazel stomped her feet in excitement and held his hand, unable to hold it in any longer.

"And we're also building our honeymoon cottage. Yep," she smiled at the others, who all looked at her in confusion. "We'll be married in the summer!"

"Congratulations!" Ellie exclaimed.

Adrian laughed. "What happened to 'beavers have a longer life span, I got plenty of time', huh?" she quoted.

"Well, I was just waiting for the right guy." Hazel giggled. "Oh, jeez, I'm a nervous wreck."

"It's okay, hon." Phineas patted her on the shoulder. "We're all excited."

"Wait, back up a sec." Eddie said. "If you've got a home built, then why-"

"It's almost built." Hannah answered, stepping up. She was a homely beaver with a slight curl in her fur. "For now, you could just say we're 'renting' this cave. The owner doesn't mind at all."

"She used to travel everywhere with her husband and child, but then something happened." Hazel told them. "She wouldn't say what it was to us, only that she left him after that, and came here."

"Did she go through the Labyrinth?"

"No, turns out there's another entrance from the east. It's not a treacherous as the Labyrinth, but still." Hazel turned around, hearing a noise behind her. "Look, here she comes now."

The beavers cleared the way, and the herd plus Adrian backed up so the visitor could get through to the outside. Suddenly, there were two loud gasps, one from the stranger, the other from Adrian. The stranger moved into the light.

She was a saber, about forty years old. What astonished the herd most was that, except for her tall stature, her clear blue eyes, and the difference in age, she and Adrian could have been twins. They both had the same face, the same forehead, the same golden fur (although the stranger's was more worn). They both stared at each other, even in more shock than Hazel was at seeing Adrian. The strange saber looked like she might have fainted on the spot, but instead, tears came down from her eyes.

Adrian's breathing came out in ragged gasps. "Mother?" she asked. Lydia nodded her head, and with what seemed to be a Herculean amount of energy, ran forward and hugged her long-lost daughter.

"Adrian." she croaked, with a voice full of so much happiness, for one who had felt so much pain. "My girl, my grown-up beautiful daughter. Where have you been?"

* * *

"So, you left Dad-I mean, Father?" Adrian queried. "I mean, I'm not sorry you did, but why then? Why not sooner?"

Nighttime had fallen, and they had all gathered around a campfire outside. None of them had dared to question Adrian on the story, she was still in shock at seeing her birth mother again.

"I tried to hide my real self from everyone, even you." Lydia mused. "I was weak."

"No-" Adrian argued.

"Yes, I was. I did love Johan, and I hoped that he would love me. I made up the illusion for so many years that he did. But I was wrong. He only saw me as a possession, a bearer to his children. Deep in my heart, I knew it, but I chose not to accept it. I dealt with your father and his way for so many years. He had his dislike of you from the start, ever since you were born a girl, and not a boy, as he wanted. I feel so horrible telling you this, Adrian, dear, but I think you could cope with it now, as opposed to if I told you the truth when you were a cub."

"It's okay, Mom, I don't care about him." Adrian dismissed, letting her go on.

"He wanted to throw you out of the Inashi, to leave you to die. But I objected strongly, I was not going to give you up. From then on, he put a tighter muzzle around me. Fool that I was, I did not fight it, unless you were concerned.

"And then Johan decided that fateful evening to leave you in the woods. We both came back to the Inashi settlement, where he shed fake tears and lied of you being torn apart by a hungry migrant. He even cut his fur on rocks to show where the saber had 'wounded him'. I cried my heart out that day, not to go along with his plan, but because I figured you could not survive alone in the wilderness. I assumed you were already dead."

"But I wasn't, the Beavers took me in." Adrian pointed out.

"And for that I will always be in debt to them." Lydia bowed her head sadly at Hazel, who replied "Don't sweat it, you've done enough for our family."

Lydia then continued. "I knew then I could not go on pretending, especially when he told the biggest lie of all. He 'confessed' in his sobbing that he really did love you and it only took your death to see it plainly. I was so furious, I could have ripped his dishonest heart out of his chest!" She roared, then put up her paw to calm herself. "But I waited until the following morning, when we were out hunting. I told him I'd had enough. He had taken away my only joy in this world; **you**, Adrian. I told him I did not care if he attempted to murder me on the spot, I was leaving him. I know not what became of him after that, but I found this land, and have been living alone in this cave ever since."

"Well, I don't blame you in the slightest." Adrian comforted. "And you're not a fool. I'm just glad I'm seeing you again."

"Well, one story down." Hazel turned to Adrian. "One to go. You never told us how you and your friends **did** get through the Labyrinth."

Adrian sighed. "All right, but it's a long story..."

* * *

Morning came. The beavers had woken up early to finish the dam, and now that it was all done, they were ready to show it off.

"And to see the Glade, too, of course." Hazel added. "Ooh, you're just all going to love it, there's woods and rivers and streams and a beautiful lake. I'm sure there's a spot where you can find a home..." she addressed the herd.

Adrian rolled her eyes playfully, she was still getting used to Hazel's I'm-deliriously-happy-all-the-time-'cause-I'm-getting-married!-attitude. "Okay, how 'bout we go see it?"

"Just head through the tunnel, it isn't as far a walk as it seems." Lydia voiced, already walking on the bridge. The cave, they found, wasn't dark and cold like the one in the glacier. Peaks of sunshine broke through the rocks at times, casting an amber glow on them. Adrian particularily felt that the lapping of the stream against their feet felt more like home to her.

Then, they saw the light at the end of the tunnel...literally. The Golden Glade was perched below them, a huge green valley with evergreen trees and cedar trees and every kind of tree that no one but the beavers and Adrian could probably name. The young spring saplings were bursting with flowers of all kinds of varieties; pink, blue, yellow. There was a medium-sized lake in the middle of the valley with children laughing and playing in it. Two rivers jutted out of it on the East and the West.

Adrian stepped at the head of the group as they came out, facing the sunrise. They had only to walk down the slanted path that lead into the woods, and they would be part of this wonderful new world. It was strange and beautiful, but welcoming. _This was so worth the trip_ Adrian thought.

Lydia was to the right of Adrian, Diego on the left. "Have you ever seen anything...so magical?" she asked, not caring how corny it normally would have sounded. Diego had been looking at the glade for only a brief minute; his eyes rested on Adrian now. Her fur was so reflective of the light, he would have thought she was a star fallen to Earth. Her eyes looked dreamily out onto the world, big and bright and so full of wonder.

"Every day." he breathed out. She was too awestruck to hear him.

"Well, the dam's right this way, if you want to see, Adrian." Hazel interrupted, pointing to the West river. "Phinny, dear, can you help out the others?"

"Sure." He waited until she, Adrian, and the sisters disappeared into the woods. "Now then, folks, if you'll just follow me, I think we can take care of your 'new home' problem. There's always good real estate by the East side, if you want to browse."

"Thanks very much, we'd love to." Ellie responded. They were about to go down the hill when they noticed Diego and Lydia were still staring at the land.

"Aren't you two coming?" Manny asked.

"One moment." Lydia answered. "I want a word with him." The herd, not wanting to argue with her, went with Phineas. The two spent a moment in silence before she said "It's a beautiful place, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah." he argeed. What did Lydia want to talk to him about? He got his answer soon enough.

"I know your secret. I've seen the way you look at my daughter." She only now had turned to face him. "You're that little cub she met ten years ago, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, but that doesn't mean-" he objected, then asked. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"Simple. She told me. Now, how do you plan to go about it?"

"Go about what?"

"Why, telling her, of course!" She laughed, which only confused him more.

"Wait, you're okay with this?"

"I have heard from her stories how fast your friendship with her has grown, and the many times you have helped each other and saved one another's lives. I also know you genuinely love her, which is more than my husband ever did. Why not tell her? There's a good chance she may love you in return." Lydia turned around to go back through the cave "It is up to you." she called back to him, before disappearing.

* * *

After a very hectic but fun day of checking out the new dam and playing in the river with her sisters, Adrian was worn out. She shook the remaining water out of her fur and tried to smooth it clean with her paws.

"Don't bother, you look great already."

She looked up. "I thought you were with the herd. Have they found someplace yet, by the way?"

"Yeah, about two miles from the East river. It's in the woods, and Peaches'll be near enough to the kiddie park. Whenever you and your sisters want to visit-"

"Visit? No way, partner, I'll be living there with you...with you guys." she interjected. "Who am I to break up the herd?"

"What? You mean you're not-?"

"Hazel and Helen can take care of the rest of the family. And Mom will understand. Why, there a problem?"

"No, I'm glad you're staying with us. But.." he took a deep breath, and said quickly "I've got something to tell you." The only problem was, Adrian said it at the exact same time.

"You first." he excused. Adrian cleared her throat.

"So, anyway, I was, uh, talking to Hazel. About future matters, since she's getting married and all. And as she was telling me about her wedding plans, I don't know, I kinda started thinking about when we first met. You know, for some reason or other." she mumbled, trying to seem casual. "And I remembered, when we first met as cubs, I thought you were the coolest guy ever. Not because you were the pack leader's son, or because you helped me out of that mud pit, I liked you because you were the first cub who actually wanted to be my friend. You were a friend to me then, and still are."

"Point is, and I'm going to come clean...I think you're the toughest, kindest, smartest, bravest, strongest, handsomest and all-around most perfect person I've ever met. My life wouldn't be the same without you. I knew that when I first met you, and I know it now. I don't want any of this to come between our friendship if you don't feel the same, but...I love you. I'm just sorry I took so long to say it. I don't want to waste another minute not being by your side, that is, if you'll have someone as bossy and stubborn and-"

Before she could finish her lists of faults, Diego leaned forward and kissed her.

She felt as if were drowning in the freshest pool of water, and she didn't want to come back up for air. Flying on the swiftest current of air through the magnificent heavens, not bothering to what lay below at her feet, only the sky ahead. She practically jumped at him, kissing him back even stronger. After what seemed like an eternity later, they let go, her arms still around his neck.

"I'll take that as an affirmative." she grinned, letting go. His eyes whirled around, so unfocused and dazed she couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, now what were you going to say?"

In response, he kissed her again, for nearly twice as longer. "Couldn't have put it better myself." she replied, when it was over.

"Ugh, guys!" a voice complained from the trees.

"Yeah, get a room!" Crash and Eddie popped out from behind an overhead brach, looking sickened.

"We had one until you came along!" Diego argued back. Adrian shook her head lightly.

"You boys were born to spy, weren't you? Well, you're probably going to tell everyone in the valley, right? Go ahead." she shrugged. "Tell 'em Adrian and Diego are finally getting hitched, making out, whatever version you like. Throw a few acorns at some ducks while you're at it."

The boys, thrilled at getting permission to be rowdy, scurried off to do their works. She shook her head, still laughing. "Boys will be boys." she dismissed. "Oh well, it was bound to get out anyway, it's a small town."

"You think we should tell the herd and your family before **they** do?" Diego asked her.

"Why not? But later. Let them find us first."

She kissed him again more gently, and he returned it. The world might have gone on around them, but they were in their **own **world, where just the two of them existed. Whatever they would do, from now on, they would do it together. Forever.

* * *

A/N: I know I don't have to put this, but...

THE END


	20. Sneak Preview at Sequel

A/N: Okay, like I promised, here's a couple sketches from my new story, the sequel to The Odd One Out;

**Ice Age: Trouble In Paradise**

Which will be coming out soon. The story bits are in order, they are all from Chapter 1, but I'm not putting the entire chapter on here. You'll have to wait 'till the story comes, sorry.

* * *

A small rabbit was eating a carrot right by a clump of berry bushes. Suddenly, the tree branches nearby began to rustle. The naturally timid bunny looked behind him and started to shiver. Something was going to make breakfast out of him! But in this sort of clump, there was nowhere to run. As the bushes in front of him parted, he dropped the carrot and flinched. When nothing happened, he looked up. And laughed.

Well, no one could blame him. It was not often that you saw a saber-tooth tiger with messy fur that had a branch with a small nest carrying around forty-some berries tucked behind one ear, and berry juice smeared over her mouth. Adrian narrowed her eyes at him.

"What, you never saw a saber looking for food before? Scram, buster, before you ruin my good mood." She swiped at him, and the rabbit, still laughing, hopped past her into the woods.

"Little furballs, never liked them." she grumbled to herself, looking through the bushes. "Hmm, blueberries?...no I've got seven of those...cranberries?...not this early in the morning." she mumbled to herself. "Ah! Oh, ho, ho...jackpot! The strawberry motherlode, come to momma-huh?" She reached out her claws to grab as many strawberries as she could, but as she lifted her arm, the branch from her ear toppled to the ground, scattering the nest and sending the other berries rolling away into the woods.

"Wait, no! Come back, darn you!" she yelled, trying to grab what she could. And missed.

Picking up the branch, and placing the nest angrily in it, she muttered "Well, back to square one."

* * *

Looking up at the starry sky, she saw the Great Saber constellation. The stars that made up its eyes were twinkling. She looked away, determined. If she didn't try, she'd never know.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

"You just did." he joked, swallowing the last of his dinner.

"I'm serious, Diego. It's important." she cut off. Once she cut the casuality, it was easy for her to get her point across.

"All right, sure." He stopped scratching his claws against the den wall and looked at her. "What's the matter?"

"Well," she hesitated, not knowing exactly how to phrase it. "We've been married a while, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"And you love me, right?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course." He smiled, and kissed her forehead. "So, go on, what is it?" he queried, stretching his arms and yawning.

"Well, I know this isn't the best time to ask, but...I really would like a cub or two sometime in the future. As in the near future." she finished.

"What?" He tried to stand up in shock, but his head bumped against the roof. "Ow! What do you mean, 'the near future'?"

"I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, I'm just saying. You're not mad, are you?" she hissed, looking around and hoping the rest of the herd hadn't woken up.

He sighed, still rubbing his head. "No. But that's a big thing to ask, we've only been together three months."

"Ellie got pregnant with Peaches the same month she married Manny." she debated.

He laughed. "Yeah, but honey, news flash, we're not mammoths" She wasn't taking this as lightly as he was.

"Don't you want a family?" she questioned, her voice dropping with sadness. She'd thought he'd love the idea of having kids.

"We've got the herd. That's all we need for right now."

"But, Diego, just think about it...you and me, walking along the path to the river, with a little fuzzy tyke named Diego Jr. riding on your back and pulling at your ears. Or an Adrian Jr., either way. Why wouldn't anyone want children?" she mused.

"It's not like I don't want them, it's just-not right now." He yawned again, and held her paw. "Right now, you're all the family I need. Now go to sleep, please."

He closed his eyes, and she snuggled up against him, feeling lost. _Why wouldn't anyone want to have kids? _she repeated in her mind._ I know I do._

* * *

A/N: So, what did you think? Tell me in a review, and stay tuned for the next story!


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